


My One Safe Place (AKA Xander In Miami)

by Draconia



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, CSI: Miami
Genre: M/M, Multi, Willow Bashing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-25
Updated: 2012-05-25
Packaged: 2017-11-05 23:45:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 43,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/412356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draconia/pseuds/Draconia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Xander gets sent on an enforced Vacation by Giles. At loose ends and not knowing where else to go, he turns to an old friend who had once helped him.   COMPLETE.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My One Safe Place (AKA Xander In Miami)

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Miami1

  


Xander ducked under the weapon that was heading for his head, he spun with his axe before kicking up at another vampire that was attacking him. He spun flicking his bloody fringe out of his vision, kicking another in the knee making him go down giving one of the younger slayers enough time to stake him before moving on to another attacker.

Pain shot through his left shoulder, as he left arm became useless from the pain, he gripped his axe harder in his right spinning to decapitate the grinning vampire with a gun.

Just as quickly as the attack had started it stopped leaving the group of eight breathing hard.

“Any one down?” Xander called sliding his axe one handed into its carrier on his back.

“Bruises, a few cuts and one broken wrist.” One of the girls called back as they slowly took stock of their injuries.

“Back to base, get injuries seen too.” He ordered, as he scanned the area, holding his left arm to his stomach keeping the weight off his shoulder. Only once he was sure the girls were seen too, did he tend to himself.

Giles pulled the bullet from his shoulder and Dawn stitched it closed along with the long deep cup on his forehead.

“Xander you aren’t going to be able to go on patrol or train like this.” Giles held up his hand when Xander went to protest. “I know we’ve all done it all before, but before we didn’t have a choice.” He sighed. “Now we have more than enough people to cover for injuries so everyone has a chance to heal properly. Go take that vacation you’ve been dreaming about, it’s going to be at least two months including therapy before you’ll be up to full speed.” Xander sunk a little in to his chair as Dawn glared at him. “You’re well over due a vacation Xander you haven’t had one in nearly two years, instead you’ve made sure that everyone else has gotten one, which we’ve all appreciated but now it’s your turn.” He handed him a sealed envelope. “Take three months and recharge fully, be selfish for once Xander and look after yourself.” Giles ordered before kindly pushing him out of his office, tucking the envelope into his jacket before slamming the door.

Glaring at the closed door Xander made his way through the house, packed a duffle bag, before showering and changed into clean clothes, bandaged the stitches, pulled on an old sling and made sure he had everything. He even tucked the sealed envelope into his bag before he left the large house.

He tossed his duffle bag into his car and drove, sliding on his sunnies when the sun rose. He drove for hours heading east before he stopped for food, petrol and a room to sleep and think so he could decide what to do.

His wounds throbbed along with his bruises and his nightmares kept him from sleeping. He glanced at the envelope he’d pulled out earlier and finally opened it.

Inside was a letter and two checks.

‘ _Xander, I thank you for taking care of everything over the last few years while we’ve been selfish and ignored the important things. One check is to repay everything you’ve paid out of your own money for the mortgage if it is short, be angry and tell me and I’ll fix that. The second is your pay for training the girls. I know that you’ve never asked but now that we’ve got the money you deserve it so you can have things. May I suggest replacing your clothes and getting a new car? Another check will be placed directly into your account in a few weeks when the last of the money from the former council has been cleared._

_Take care, come back when you are ready. Take time to think things through, recharge. If you decide not to come back or want a transfer to somewhere else let me know._

_Giles.’_

  


He stared blankly at the checks. His work check was nearly a hundred thousand, three years of back pay. The mortgage check was close to two hundred thousand. He’d been paying it himself since they had bought the house four years ago, from his own pay checks for his construction work.

He shook his head, he’d never said anything bar once when they had first started out in Cleveland. Giles had waved it off as unimportant as they had been researching for a battle at the time.

He could have been selfish and thought fuck it and not paid it at all like they weren’t let them all get kicked out, while he had been snug in his apartment but his own conscience had bitten him for it.

Unable to sleep he made his way to a bank instead to put them into an account, locked so only he could get into them. A few months ago Willow had stolen a lot of money out of his account to go shopping on, money he’d been saving up to help the others with, he’d thrown a major fit at her and locked his accounts, putting passwords and pin numbers on them that she’d never guess and put an order on them that only he would be able to access them, no one else even if they had a written note from him to withdraw the money, he’d have to do it in person and give the codes.

He paid a little extra to get one check cleared right away so he had some funds and a card so he could access it. 

He returned to his hotel, cleared out his car and took it to a used car dealer and sold it. He browsed in the town for three days before he bought a two year old four door cab truck.

**

He lay staring at the ceiling unable to get more than four hours a night, he was still trying to decide where to go, he’d need some where he felt safe to completely relax and recover when a memory hit him.

“ _ **If you need me, call, I’ll be there. If you ever need to forget that you are the strong one for awhile Alex, come to me.” Calloused fingers carded through his hair. The male voice was soft and gentle but held an order in its tone.**_

“ _ **Any time?” Alex asked in a soft hesitant voice.**_

“ _ **Any time, day, night, tomorrow, next month, next year or years down the track, I’ll be there for you.” He promised, soft dry lips pressed against his forehead.**_

“ _ **And how do I find you Rio?” Alex asked, still sprawled on the couch, head in the man’s lap. “I’m not stupid enough to think that the name you are using is your real name.”**_

“ _ **I’ll be in Miami waiting for you, just ask for the red head that you don’t piss off in crime.” He assured him, fingers massaging his sculp. “When asked who calls just tell them that you are the Citizen Soldier looking for the red head that crime hates to piss off.”**_

_**Alex looked up at him tensing, his brown eyes wide in panic.**_

“ _ **Hush, yes I saw you in the alley. You deal with what we can’t and would rather ignore.” Lips pressed again his forehead again. “Come to me when you need me.” His blue eyes closed for a moment. “I hope that you would never get that bad but I will be there, I’ll shelter you until you can take your burdens once again.”**_

“ _ **Thank you.” Alex closed his eyes, relaxing again.**_

  


Xander’s snapped open and looked around his room carefully before realising that the sun was up. He showered, changed his bandages, dressed, checked out and drove.

His destination Miami.

  


**

It took him five days to drive to Miami and settled into a cheap motel before hunting down a internet cafe, trying to figure out how to find his friend he’d met so many years ago, He typed in what he knew in the Miami people finder site he’d found, while on another tab he looked up the song he needed that reminded him of what Rio had called him.

After an hour he had a place to look. Rio was a police officer, so he looked up the police site and found the email address and a phone number for his office.

He sent the email with the song attached and sent it so he’d get a confirmation email saying that it had been received and opened.

Knowing that it would probably be awhile he went shopping for a laptop so he could check his email and keep in contact with the others from his room.

  


**

  


Horatio cleared the last of his paper work with an internal relieved sigh and moved to check his email before he signed out for the day.

He frowned when he came across an email that he didn’t know the sender of but it was the subject line that caught his attention.

_**Subject: My Rio.**_

“Interesting.” He murmured before he opened it and his frowned deepened when there was nothing inside but an attachment. A window opened saying that the sender wanted a receipt sent saying he’d received it, he clicked yes and then opened the file.

Music started to play for a moment before the words began.

  


Beyond the boundaries of your city's lights

stand the Heroes waiting for your cries

so many times you did not bring this on yourself

when that moment finally comes

I'll be there to Help...

  


On that day

when you need your Brothers and Sisters to care

I'll be right here

Citizen Soldiers

holding the Light for the ones that we Guide from the Dark of Despair

Standing on Guard for the ones that We've Sheltered

We'll always be ready

Cuz' We will always be There...

  


From in we hear the people crying in the streets

for when their starving for a meal to eat

for when they need simply need a place to make their beds

right here underneath My Wing

you can rest your head

  


On that day

when you need your Brothers and Sisters to care

I'll be right here

Citizen Soldiers

holding the Light for the ones that we Guide from the Dark of Despair

Standing on Guard for the ones that We've Sheltered

We'll always be ready

Cuz' We will always be There...

  


Hope and Pray

that you never need Me

but rest assured

I will not let you down

I walk beside you

but you may not see Me

the strongest among you

may not wear a Crown...

  


On that day

when you need your Brothers and Sisters to care

I'll be right here

  


On that day

when you don't have the strength for the burden you Bear

I'll be right here...

  


Citizen Soldiers

holding the light for the ones that we guide from the Dark of Despair

Standing on Guard for the ones that We've Sheltered

We'll always be ready

Cause We will always be

There...

  


  


Horatio closed his eyes as the song played, memories playing across his mind. When it finished he opened them, tapped his fingers on the desk for a moment thinking. Things must have gotten bad for Alex to finally contact him, but he was glad that the young man was still alive.

He replied to the message giving him his address and a time to show up, saying that he’d cook dinner, and that if he didn’t get the message in time tomorrow was his day off, he could come around any time, he’d be waiting.

He closed down his computer and logged out for the night and headed home after a quick detour to the shops to grab a few groceries so he could cook a good meal and settled back to wait.

  


  


**

  


Chapter 2

  


Xander tapped impatiently on his knee as he loaded a few extra programs he’d bought for his laptop and then huffed as the machine rebooted, he checked everything before logging on to check his email and smiled when he saw the receipt and the reply.

‘ _ **Come to my place and I’ll cook you a good meal at six. Knowing you, you haven’t had a good meal in awhile and could use one. Glad to know that you are still alive. Rio.’**_

The message was written under an address.

He glanced down at himself and his baggy clothes that were all that he had left clean from his old lot and then at the shopping bags he’d brought home with his laptop before pulling out clean new clothes and changed.

The jeans were black and tight while still giving him freedom of movement, a black sleeveless singlet and a dark royal blue dress shirt, pulled on his boots and worn leather jacket as he glanced at the clock. He looked the address up on the computer before logging off, grabbing his keys and wallet and headed out.

He took note of where a few shopping centres were as he drove through the streets glancing at the directions he’d written down. He slowed down as he turned on to the right street and began looking at the house numbers and snorted as he parked out the front of a nice modest looking two story house and a silver hummer parked in the drive way.

He slid out of the cab, locking the door and turning on the alarm looking up and down the street before heading for the front door and rang the door bell.

He fidgeted for a moment wondering if this had been a good idea, staring down at his boots. His shoulder protested the shrug he gave himself and rested his hand on it, gently massaging it and looked up as the door opened.

He looked older, a few more deeper lines in his face but otherwise Rio looked exactly the same as he did all those years ago.

“Hey Rio.” He gave a weak smile, knowing that the stitches on his forehead and blackened eye and cheek made him look a mess.

“Alex, come in.” He motioned for him to enter and closed and locked the door behind him. “Jacket.” He requested, gesturing to the hooks on the wall.

“Right.” He eased it off carefully and hung it up before getting a good look at the room across from the entry way. It was a sparsely furnished lounge room, TV, DVD player, a small collection of movies and on the far wall was a large book shelf crammed full of books. He looked back at Rio and ducked his head as he realised that he’d been levelled with an intense stare.

“How old are they?” He asked softly, tipping his chin up so he could look at the eye and stitches better.

“About a week, ducked when I should have weaved.” He shrugged and winced, hand going back to his shoulder.

“Dislocated?” He asked leading him through to the dining table two rooms away.

“Gunshot, damn vamp.” He grumbled. “Be weeks before I can start looking for another job.” He tensed as arms went around him for a moment before he relaxed and lent into the hug, resting his head on his shoulder. “Got sent on vacation, almost literally kicked out of the house.”

“You look like you need it, Alex.” Rio sighed. “Your eyes.” He explained when Alex looked up at him in confusion. “They are dull, full of exhaustion, pain and loneliness.” He kissed his forehead. “Just like they were all those years ago.” He gestured for him to sit. “Soda, coffee?” He offered checking the oven.

“Coffee would be great thanks.” Xander nodded, leaning back in the seat.

“Was it that hard tracking me down?” He asked making up two mugs and set them down on the table with a milk and sugar. “Help yourself.”

“Took me about an hour searching through the net, then the PD site.” He shook his head. “Once I saw the picture there was no doubt.” He smiled, adding sugar and took a sip, wrapping his hands around the warm mug. “Wasn’t that surprised that you were an officer, even back then. I knew you were some sort of official just didn’t know which branch.”

“And how could you tell?” Horatio raised an eyebrow at him.

“The way you moved, kept aware of your surroundings, and always watched the predators.” He replied easily. “First time I saw that I thought you were military.” He eyed the man for a moment. “That week, what made you insist and push for a night with me? I was fuming when the owner ordered me to go to that room for a ‘private dance’.”

“Mainly the look in your eyes, that and what I saw the night before. I was curious, you weren’t like the other dancers, you knew what was going on around you and you knew without a doubt who was dangerous and who was safe to dance close to.” He explained sitting down across from him as he spoke. “You are a fighter for the innocent and fight for those who can’t.” He gave a small smirk. “You reminded me of myself, always ready to protect others, even if it puts yourself in the line of fire.”

“Yeah, you know what they called me?” Xander agreed sipping more of the caffeinated goodness. 

“What?” He raised his eyebrow.

“The White Knight, ‘cause I jumped in, even when it was too dangerous, too deadly, I fought anyway. I didn’t have the training, I didn’t have any special skills to help but I did it anyway.” He sighed. “I was also seen as the comic relief, the donut boy and the Zeppo.” He snorted. “The useless one, the one who was worth nothing and did nothing. Didn’t matter how many times I helped out or saved lives that’s how they saw me...still do some times.”

“Then why stay?” Rio frowned.

“Because there was no one else to take my place. They might not have known it but they needed me and I needed to belong, I needed to do it.” He shrugged and grimaced. “Gotta stop doing that.”

“Did you get a hospital to look at it? The stitches up top look a little tight.” He frowned thinking over everything he had been told.

“Nope, home base touch up. Can’t go to the hospital, they’d have to report a bullet, we can’t afford to have people asking questions and stepping into something they don’t understand and won’t want to understand.” He shook his head. “over the counter pain killers and antibiotics does the job, I know enough to take them out by myself, can even stitch myself up if it’s somewhere I can reach.”

“Alex.” Horatio gave him a concerned look. “What if there was damage they couldn’t see? Or caused more pulling it out?”

“Can’t risk it.” He shook his head stubbornly. “What we do is too important to risk exposure, can you imagine the mass panic? The wrong identity mob killings? We can’t risk that.”

“I can understand that but surely you could come up with a suitable lie that would have police believe you. You were mugged while shopping, mugged while out taking a walk anything was better than that.” He pointed at his shoulder.

“As long as I can move my fingers, lift heavy things and can still feel my fingers it’s a good job.” Xander shook his head.

“Would you let me get someone qualified to look at it? Will you trust me that far?” Horatio asked after a moment of careful thinking. “Stitches done wrong can cause more problems.”

“If you are that concerned I can always go see a real doctor, I don’t want you to get into trouble trying to protect me.” He said quietly.

“That is what friends do, Alex. They help each other and go to great lengths to make sure you stay safe and healthy.” Horatio gave him a pointed look and sighed at the stubborn look. “Much like you would protect other’s Alex, I will help you the same way, I am very protective of my friends and those I consider family.”

“Like I do.” Alex said softly.

“Very much so.” Horatio agreed. “Will you let me protect you like I promised? Until you are fully healed?” He turned his intense stare on to the young man, watching as he shifted in his seat looking uncomfortable and hesitant.

“It is a lot to ask of me, considering I don’t know how.” Alex’s grip on his mug tightened to the point his knuckles went white.

“Much of it is like it was back then when I would visit, Alex. Talking about things that are troubling you, relaxing enough to sleep knowing that someone else will watch for danger, provide good food and medical attention and a safe place to stay.” He spoke evenly, calmly while inside he was seething, the boy still didn’t know how to trust, how to let others help or let others protect him when he was injured. Just what sort of friends did he have that no one ever taught him? He already knew that he didn’t have the best of childhoods, he’d seen the scars across his back. “Just like you let me before, it’s the same thing Alex, except this time we’re not staying at your place, we’ll be here.” He stood as his oven timer went off and served up the Lasagne he’d made pretty much from scratch from a recipe that Speed had taught him. He put the plate in front of the now young man. “Think about it while we eat, that’s all I’m asking for now.”

They ate in silence for awhile, Xander was thinking hard over everything that had been said and what had been left unsaid. Rio had always been easy for him to read, he knew that he was seething with anger inside most likely at his friends about his inability to trust, even an old friend. He also knew that he was concerned about his injuries, not just because he had them but the lack of professional care. 

That warmed a part of Xander that had been cold for so long, most likely since the last time they had met up. It was why he’d looked the man up after all, so he wouldn’t have to be strong, so he wouldn’t have to lie, even to himself, so Rio could stand guard so he could finally rest.

He frowned into his half eaten meal, but could he still let go? Could he stand down after all this time? It had been just over five years since they had last met up and Rio had chipped away at his walls...could he do it again? Could he chip away at the thicker, higher walls enough that he could pull them down?

Could he...would he get them down before he collapsed from exhaustion caused by his injuries and nightmares?

He raised his eyes from his plate and locked with intense blue eyes, he knew that his eyes were begging, pleading for help but he couldn’t ask, his stupid pride and everything he’d learnt had taught him never to ask.

“Good, I’ll call my friend in the morning though if she recommends that you get it look at properly I’ll make you go.” He warned. “You can stay in the spare room, you can get your things in the morning. I only ask while you are here that you pick up after yourself. And warn me if you are going to be gone for more than a day if you need some alone time.” Alex nodded in agreement. “You will more than likely meet my co-workers who I consider my family, they can be a little pushy for information, just tell them to back off or to ask me.”

“What about board?” Alex asked quietly as he finished off his meal.

“One fifty for food and bills a week, I know you don’t like charity or living free so we’ll do it that way.” Horatio agreed. “You can continue to call me Rio if you wish or use my full name Horatio, I don’t mind either way.”

Alex smiled at the curious look Horatio was giving him. “Xander, is what I prefer.”

“Alex is your real name?” He asked in surprise.

“Alexander.” He nodded. “Though I don’t mind you calling me Alex, it reminds me of a time that I was safe with you.”

“Then we will see how things go.” Horatio collected the dirty plates and placed them in the dish washer along with the mugs and handed Alex a can of soda. He lead him to the lounge and sank down on the couch gesturing for him to get comfy and smiled as Alex laid down with his head on his thigh, and began running his fingers through his hair.

“Tell me about your friends?” Alex asked after a moment of silence enjoying the calming effect the fingers through his hair had.

As Horatio spoke about his family and friends he smiled in delight as Alex relaxed just as he used to, a limp body completely relaxed, trusting him to guard him for this moment.

He knew they still had a long way to go before Alex or rather Xander would trust him completely once more, but it would be worth it, just to see him healthy once more and not the walking shell of a man that was barely holding on to life.

  


  


**

  


Chapter 3

  


  


Xander looked his hotel room to double check that he hadn’t left anything behind before checking out and loading his truck with is new suitcase for all the new clothes that he’d bought the day before. 

He stretched carefully before sliding in behind the wheel moaning a little in relief as muscles that had been knotted for so long were now loose after spending a night talking and relaxing with Rio.

He carefully pulled in the morning traffic with a small smile he hadn’t been this relaxed in years, and this was only after one night. He tilted his head a little as he wondered how he’d been feeling in a few weeks if this kept up.

He pulled into the drive beside Horatio’s hummer and looked at the car parked behind it with a small frown, wondering who was visiting. He sighed as he grabbed his suitcase as he remembered Rio was going to call his doctor friend to look over his wounds today.

He paused after he’d closed the door behind him locking it again listening. The house was quiet.

“Rio?” He called setting his suitcase down in the dining room looking around.

“Out back.” Came the reply and he relaxed his muscles heading out the back door smiling as he spotted Rio and a African American woman sitting at a small outside table drinking coffee. “Xander this is Alexx Woods she’s our ME, Doctor and mother hen.” He introduced the woman. “Alexx this is Xander, we met a long time ago, he’s here for a vacation.”

“Nice to meet you Dr Woods.” Xander nodded giving her a small lopsided smile.

“Alexx is fine Xander.” She assured him with a kind smile. “You alright? you’re holding yourself strange.” Her smile faded taking in his stance.

“Xander.” Horatio gave him a look when he hesitated. “We talked about this last night.”

“Doesn’t make it any easier, Rio.” Xander sighed. “I picked up my suitcase in the wrong hand, I think I popped a stitch.”

“In the kitchen let me have a look.” Alexx ordered standing, guiding Xander in front of her. “Sit.” She wasn’t that surprised that Horatio had followed them in. “Where?”

Xander gave her an uneasy look, glanced at Horatio before unbuttoning his shirt and pulled it off, really wishing he’d remembered to put an under shirt back on after his morning shower and looked out the window as his shoulder was gently prodded.

“These are really tight, I’m surprised you haven’t torn more Sugar.” She noted. “Not infected, but I’ll have to take them out, you’re skin is starting heal over them.” She tapped his chin getting him to look at her, taking in the fading black eye and then the other stitches. “Yeah they’ll all have to come out, they’re too tight but they’ve healed enough that if you take it easy for a few more days they shouldn’t tear open.”

“Can you do them or do I have to drag him to a doctor?” Horatio asked leaning against the wall.

“I can do them, it’s not a problem Horatio.” She assured him, grabbing her doctors bag and pulled on a pair of gloved and carefully began picking the stitches apart after giving him a local. “There you go sugar, keep them clean and no heavy lifting or if you tear it open you’re going to the doctors to get it restitched.”

“Thank you, Alexx.” Xander gave her a large goofy smile.

“You still taking antibiotics?” She asked cleaning up the small mess she’d made.

“Yes, ma’am. Over the counter ones, I know they’re weak but they do the job.” He nodded pulling his shirt back on. “For some reason the stronger ones make me sick so I go with what works.”

“Fair enough.” She turned to Horatio once she’d repacked her back. “And the other’s meet him when?”

“Soon, Alexx, I want to give him a chance to settle in first.” He tilted his head watching as Xander slipped out of the kitchen and into the hall. “How soon do you think he’ll be able to start looking for work? He gets into trouble fast when he is bored.”

“Three weeks at the earliest, Horatio you know that, while the wound maybe healed next week he’s going to have to work slowly to rework his shoulder, nothing heavy for at least two weeks. What sort of work was he looking at getting?”

“He’s a construction worker.” He shrugged.

“No, no way not for at least a month.” She glared at him. 

“That’s what I thought.” He nodded in agreement. “We’re just going to have to find something to keep him going until he can start work again.”

“And how exactly did he get that badly beaten and shot? Considering you called me to look him over and not take him to a GP.”

“He didn’t report it before he left home, he got a friend to stitch him up before he left.” He sighed. “he came here to recover and recharge, he knows he’s safe here, if he went anywhere else he wouldn’t be able to fully relax to heal.” He looked at her. “And that’s all I can say, besides that it’s not illegal and he’s not a criminal.”

“I didn’t think he was, Horatio. He’s just shy and jumpy, I saw those old scars.”

“Then say no more.” He gave her a pointed look.

“You helped him out didn’t you?” She asked quietly.

“At one point yes, I didn’t know the whole story or I would have helped him more, he wouldn’t let me.” He nodded. “Tell the others no snooping please, if he gets too nervous or thinks he’s being hounded he’ll run and that’s not what he needs right now.”

“I’ll do that sugar.” She nodded and let herself out of the house.

“If I ran you’d find me.” Xander spoke up stepping out of the downstairs spare room leaning against the door frame.

“I would, I’d calm you down and bring you back when you were ready.” He agreed with a small smile. “I’ll need any cell or pager numbers you have so I can get a hold of you when I need to.”

“Don’t have either, I’m going shopping for them Monday.” Xander shook his head. “Just my email address at the moment, I’ll give them to you as soon as I have them, even if I have to email them to you.”

“Good. Settled in?” He nodded towards the room.

“For now, I’m making a shopping list of what to grab when I go out Monday.” He nodded, he looked off to the side hesitating a little. “How soon can I start exercising my arm?”

“Not for another week at least, slow gentle movements at first, no heavy lifting.” Horatio gave him a stern look. “I know you probably don’t like being idle but for your arm to heal it’s going to need it. When it starts to ache wear the sling, it will help. After next week you can start gentle exercises until you are sure that your arm can take it.” His look turned to a small glare. “And you are in no pain, even if you don’t admit it to someone, if you are in pain, you don’t do it.”

“Yes Rio.” Xander gave a small nod but a tiny smile played on his lips and his eyes sparkled knowing that someone cared and would more than likely give him a good paddling if he didn’t look after himself.

“The question then becomes what are we going to do while you can’t do your usual work?” Horatio mused watching him closely. “From your stories I don’t think letting you get bored is a good thing, trouble seems to find all too easily when you get restless.”

“True.” Xander chuckled. “To be honest it will be a few days before that happens. I’m still too tired to get bored.” He sighed, rubbing his wounded shoulder lightly. “Even when I get sleep it doesn’t last long, last night was the first decent night I’ve had in a long time.”

“I gathered that, when you fell asleep at eight while we were talking.” Horatio nodded in agreement, moving to the lounge and sank into the couch, Xander joining him a few moments later. “And you slept a good twelve hours, it will take awhile before the exhaustion disappears, as long as you get regular sleep.” He studied Xander for a moment. “What about a vocational course at one of the collages? Hands on learning something that has interested you in the past but never had the time to try? You have at least a month before you can even think about going back to construction work if not a little longer.”

“That...” He paused tilting his head to really think it over aborting his protests. “That could be a good idea, give me something to do with my hands until I can do my usual things.” He frowned a little. “Now what to do?”

“All the local vocation collages have lists of classes online, you could look them up and see what catches your attention.” Horatio suggested. “I can write out a list of the good ones that are dangerous to get to if you’d like.”

“Might be a plan.” Xander nodded slowly, then he shifted a little. “So who do you think would be the next one of your family to show up?”

“Hmm most likely Speed, he’s been out of town on vacation for the last two weeks. He’ll stop by when he gets back to find out what’s been going on, and then when he returns to work he’ll fill the others in when they ask.” Horatio replied without much hesitation.

“So besides protective what is Speed like?” Xander asked curling up in the corner of the couch, tucking his legs underneath his body. “We only covered, Alexx, Calleigh and Eric last night.”

“He’s sarcastic, serious, can be a lot of fun at times, and loves to speed around on his bike, giving me heart attacks when I know he’s on the road.” He smiled slightly as he spoke before he sighed. “He hates guns, hates that he has to carry one, and tries to ignore his as much as he can. It’s gotten him in to trouble a few times while his gun has jammed on him when he needed it the most.” He felt a hand squeeze his shoulder. “Last time nearly cost him his life, missed his heart by three inches. It scared the hell out of all of us that we nearly lost him. After the first time I should have made sure that he was cleaning his gun, I knew how much he hated it...” He shook his head. “But I didn’t, I decided that he’d most likely learnt his lesson the first time and after giving him a gun cleaning kit, I left it to him.”

“Some people don’t like guns, but familiarity with them, knowing how they come apart and pull back together, how to shoot and clean it helps, more so if someone helps out, gets you in to a pattern.” Xander told him with a small shrug. “That’s how I learnt, every Saturday morning with the cartoons I cleaned my weapons, made sure they were all still in good condition, if they weren’t I’d fix them. Because no one else was there, I’d talk to myself while do it, going through the week before, making notes on what could have gone better, what needed to be changed...” He grimaced a little at the last part.

“You’ve always been alone haven’t you? When it comes to planning and fixing things?” Horatio asked reaching out and running his fingers through Xander’s hair.

“Since our second year together, yeah.” He nodded. “The others think it’s only been recently that I’ve been watching their backs making sure everything was good, and the head man apologised for the recent jibes and lack of attention I’ve gotten from them but...” He sighed. “It doesn’t make up for the last seven or so years of hurt.”

“Maybe not but at least this time he noticed enough to realise that you needed to get away before you snapped.” Horatio pointed out. “He probably knew that he wouldn’t be able to help you considering what has been going on over the last few years...or if I’m really unkind, didn’t want to have to deal with it himself.”

“Probably both.” He sighed. “Monday is going to be busy, gotta go shopping for things I need and go over my accounts and figure out just how much the head man owes me or if he’s paid it off.” He pulled a face. “Find something to do with all the money I’m getting too before I get heavily taxed for it.”

“How much are we talking here?” Horatio frowned.

“Well he owed back mortgage that I paid out of my money, I gotta check and make sure there isn’t anything left, which of that he’s paid 200,000. Plus three years back pay on wages, of which he’s paid 100,000, and I spent twelve grand on a new car, three on the new computer, five hundred on clothes, so that leaves me with just under two eighty.” Xander calculated thinking. “He said there is another wages check coming in a few weeks, don’t know how much though. And that doesn’t count the money I already had saved up.”

“I’m guessing that you don’t get hazard pay.” Horatio asked mildly.

“No one does, what we do is too dangerous. The others get a living allowance, which covers clothes, shoes and an apartment if they don’t want to live at base, or if they are living on base they get a schooling allowance to learn during the day.” He shook his head as he explained. “Room and food is supplied along with weapons that we might need”

“Are they trained?” He asked his frown deepening.

“The others supply the hand to hand training while I did the weapons training and repairs. I hope they find someone good to replace me until I go back...” He look away staring at the TV for a moment. “If I go back.”

“Do they know you are thinking about retiring?”

“Boss man does.” He nodded. “He told me to think hard while I was gone to really consider it at all angles. He’d said if I wanted I could transfer somewhere else to continue on there and he’d make arrangements.”

“I know that Miami has a small population, most of them are friendly or at least not causing us any trouble.” Horatio shrugged. “Consider it as he suggested Xander.”

“I will be.” He agreed. “Everyday life is dangerous enough without the added strangeness of what we do.”

“It is.” Horatio agreed with a small smile.

  


  


  


  


  


  


  


  


Chapter 4

  


  


Xander frowned as he cleaned the piece of metal in his hands, his eyes flickering over the coffee table in front of him that was covered in gun pieces and clean and greasy cloths.

He’d been with Horatio for four days already, done quite a bit of shopping to flesh out his clothes and gotten a few things that would keep him occupied while he was unable to heavy work. Mainly sketch books, a few chunks of good wood and a really good knife so he could do some carving.

Once Horatio was sure Xander was going to be occupied while he was at work, he’d left him to his own devices, along with a thick pile of pamphlets on vocational schools in the area and the different topics they offered.

At first he’d felt weird being in the house on his own, it was too quiet. In the end he’d put the TV on to make some noise and found that it helped him relax while he cleaned. 

He shook his head, it wasn’t even his gun, which he admitted could use a clean. Horatio had given it to him, saying it was an old one that he hadn’t used in awhile. After looking it over he’d doubted that it was Horatio’s, even if it was an old unused gun the man would still clean it. And the gun was cringe worthy, there was no way that it was going to fire even if the barrel was cleaned.

His hands paused as he faintly heard the front door open and close again and looked at the clock. Horatio wasn’t due home for hours yet, but had warned that some of his co-workers or even Speed might drop by if he was back.

“H?” A deep dark voice called out.

“He’s at work.” Xander called back as he carefully put the cleaned gun back together and slid the clip in to place.

“And you are?” A scruffy looking man with a three day old beard and wild short curly black hair asked standing in the door way stiffly.

“Xander.” He looked him over carefully. “You must be Speed, Horatio said you’d drop by when you got back.”

“And you are here why?” He frowned.

“Horatio said I could.” Xander shrugged as he pulled his own gun apart to look it over with ease.

“Never seen you before.” He growled.

“That would be because we’ve never met and it’s my first time in Miami.” Xander ignored the tension coming from Speed, he knew that all of Rio’s friends would be protective of him and would make sure he wasn’t using him. After all that was what good friends did. He winced as his shoulder twinged and rubbed at it as he put the gun down.

“He’d never mentioned you.”

“Not by name probably no, we met while he was in an undercover op a few years ago.” Xander agreed. “Never really kept in contact but he helped me out, I had a standing invitation to look him up if I ever came out this way.”

Speed studied the young man for a moment. “You’re the young dancer he helped out five, six years ago...” He frowned thinking. “Alex.”

“He told you then.” Xander gave a faint smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“Only me, he needed to talk.” He lent against the door frame. “He never did think that he’d see you again, he hoped that one day when you’d gotten away that you would look him up.”

“Took me seven years but I finally had the time and the opportunity to do so.” He nodded leaning back in the couch for a moment before bending forward and held up the gun he’d already cleaned. “This yours?”

Speed came forward, taking the gun and looked it over carefully before nodding slowly. “How did you get it?”

“Horatio gave it to me, saying it was an old one of his and it probably needed a clean.” He sighed. “He doesn’t strike me as the type of person to let a gun get dirty, even if it is old and unused.” He looked up at Speed. “You don’t like them do you?”

“No, I don’t, not with what I see every day.” He shook his head and set the gun down. “But I know it’s necessary for the job.” He grimaced. “Just got to remember to clean the damn thing.”

“Set a routine, it’s what I do. Something that you have to do every week, watch a favourite program once a week, clean the gun, make a good meal, clean the gun. Clean the kitchen, clean the gun...something that you don’t forget and link cleaning your gun with it.” Xander suggested as he picked up his gun again and gave it a quick clean before putting it back together and slid it back into his bag that was sitting at his feet. “It’s a mentality that you have to either learn because you need it or you already have it or you never will have it and shouldn’t be in the protector job.”

“Blunt thing aren’t you.” Speed glared at him.

“Sometimes subtlety gets people dead.” He shrugged. “They either listen or they don’t, that’s their choice. Just as it is yours.” He cleaned up the small mess he’d made before pulling a dagger out of his boot and began sharpening it.

“What are you my own personal guardian angel?” Speed glared harder.

“I’m nowhere innocent enough to be a guardian angel.” Xander snorted with a smirk. “Guardian Devil maybe, but no angel. I’m too blunt and rude to be that innocent.”

“No arguments there.” Speed snorted. “He at the lab?”

“Most likely at scene by now or at the lab, could call him and find out which.” Xander pointed out.

“Phone got destroyed.” He shrugged.

“Then you better get a new one for when you go back to work.” Xander pointed out as he tested the blade before he kept sharpening it. 

“Hmm.” He stared at Xander for a long moment before he turned and walked out of the house.

“Not great for a first meeting but not bad either.” Xander murmured to himself, tilting his head as he heard a motorbike start and then roar down the street. “Maybe he will think for awhile...just like me.”

  


**

  


Xander finished his meal, placing his dirty dishes in the dishwasher before turning to the silent Horatio who seemed to be brooding on something.

“I’m gonna head out for some clubs tonight, get some of my bounciness out on the dance floor before I go insane with boredom and redecorate you house.” He announced suddenly heading for his room to change without waiting for a reply. He dressed in almost skin tight black jeans, a black tank top which he covered with a dark navy blue button down shirt and slid on a leather jacket. He checked to make sure that he had some money in his pockets, his cell and car keys before he left the room.

“When do you think you’ll be back?” Horatio asked standing in a door way that led to the kitchen.

“Late, probably not until after one, no later than four.” He shrugged heading for the door.

“Did I give you the spare keys?”

“Yes, Rio you did.” He flashed a small smile at the man who seemed annoyed yet relieved. “If you need me to stay out later call.” He waved a hand lazily and hurried out snickering at the sputtering behind him.

He drove the area he’d dubbed club central in his mind, looking around as he parked. It was early, nearly eight at night, most clubs wouldn’t really start bouncing for hours yet.

He walked the street for half an hour before he found a movie theatre and got a ticket to see a random movie just to pass the time. 

He wasn’t even sure what he saw when he left, having taken a nap somewhere near the beginning of the movie, recharging his batteries for a long night of dancing and teasing.

  


**

  


Xander swore as he stepped out of the fourth club of the night. Dawn was kissing the horizon, he was hours late getting back. He pulled out his cell as he jogged for his truck and swore again as he realised the cell was dead. He hurried back to Horatio’s so the man wouldn’t worry, while mentally running what was in the fridge to see if he could make himself a nice greasy bacon and egg sandwich for breakfast.

He frowned when he pulled in to the drive to find Horatio’s hummer gone and let himself in, turning off the alarm and headed straight to his room and plugged his cell in to charge and checked for messages.

‘ _ **Alex, call me as soon as you get this message.’**_ Rio’s concerned voice came through message bank, it had come in at twenty past four.

Xander set his cell down and looked around before finding the house phone and dialled Horatio’s cell from memory while walking into the kitchen and pulled out the bacon, bread and pouted when he realised there was no eggs.

‘ _ **Caine.’**_

“It’s me, sorry for the worry, Rio.” He apologised pulling a pan out and set it on the stove, letting it heat up before adding the bacon.

‘ _ **Are you alright? Your cell went right to voice mail.’**_

“Yeah sorry, my cell went flat and I lost track of time, I’m only just in the door now. I take it you’re on a scene?”

‘ _ **I am, I’ll have to get you a watch so you can keep track of time that way. Did you have fun?’**_

Xander looked at the phone in surprise, Rio was working on an active scene, so why did he want to talk? “I did, still a little hyped from it. I’m about to eat then I’ll crash. Every okay on your end? You don’t usually take personal calls while working, Rio.”

‘ _ **I’m...’**_ He broke off and took a deep breath _ **. ‘I’m trying to keep my temper, we’ve been here half an hour and no back up has arrived yet to help keep the area secure.’**_ Xander could hear his teeth grinding _ **. ‘I’ve already called it in twice.’**_

“Does it feel off, Rio?” Xander stiffened at that. “You know your scenes Rio, does it feel right?”

‘ _ **No, but we’ve gotten everything we need, we’re about to head.’**_

“Check the cars first, Rio.” Xander barked. “Have someone stand watch while the other checks the hummers, under, over and in.”

’ _ **Alex?’**_ Rio’s voice was tense _ **. ‘What caught your attention, old friend?’**_

“New York had a similar scene ten weeks ago, so did Cleveland, LA and a few others, they all lost cops and CSI’s to bombs after a fake scene.” Xander forced out.

‘ _ **On it.’**_ The cell was still on and slid into a pocket _ **. ‘Eric, keep a sharp eye out while I check the hummers.’**_

‘ _ **What’s up H?’**_

‘ _ **Remember New York a few weeks ago about faked scenes?’**_

‘ _ **Oh I hope not.’**_ Eric groaned _ **.**_

There was silence for awhile just scuffling and a few metallic bangs that were normal for someone searching a car carefully.

‘ _ **I think I am going to enjoy yelling at the chief today, Eric call the bomb squad.’**_ _Material scrapped around the cell before Horatio’s voice came back calm and clear._ **‘You have a good memory Alex. Eric after you’ve called the squad call Calleigh to come pick up our gear and get it logged in back at the lab.’**

‘ **Sure H.’**

“You going to be home for dinner? Or should I make you some lunch?” Xander asked with a small smirk.

‘ _ **Depends on how badly the Chief reacts to my temper. I’ll let you know, gotta go.’**_ The cell disconnected, just as the faint call of Eric’s voice called out.

‘ _ **Squads here.’**_

“Hmm wouldn’t want to get on his bad side today, that’s just asking for it.” Xander snorted hanging up to finish making his breakfast, so he could head to bed.

  


**

  


Xander groaned as he rolled over in his bed and glared at the clock. Only two hours had passed and he still hadn’t been able to sleep, doze yes, sleep no. He sighed before dragging himself out of bed, changed into sweat pants and a singlet and after a quick test of his shoulder grabbed a collapsible metal staff from his bag and headed outside.

He started off with slow simple katas, letting his mind slowly calm to the point that he was aware of everything around him and how his body was reacting. He waited until his body was completely in sync with his mind before he grabbed the staff and extended it before he began serious training.

He started with simple staff spins, jabs and thrusts to see how his shoulder was healing before he even thought about adding jumps, kicks, spins and flips.

He felt some one watching him towards the end of his routine but didn’t feel any danger so he continued ignoring the presence until he had finished and cooled down before turning to look at the back door to see Speed leaning against the railing that surrounded the back patio.

“Speed.” He acknowledged him before moving forward to grab the towel that he’d left on the patio table a few days back and began mopping up the sweat.

“You’re a puzzle you know that?” Speed inquired bluntly.

“Only to most people.” Xander snorted. “They don’t like to look beneath the surface and think that is all there is.”

“That is never all there is.” Speed snorted in return.

“I know that, you know that but they don’t.” He shrugged. “So what brings you back to speak with me?” He tilted his head, curious. He watched as Speed looked away for awhile before speaking.

“I don’t know where to start.” He said quietly. “I don’t want to disappoint H again, worst feeling in the world that is.”

“It is.” Xander agreed, knowing what he was talking about without the actual topic being spoken. “Alright to start, do you know how to take your gun apart and clean it?”

“I do, I just don’t like it.” He grumbled.

“You don’t have to.” He walked into the house and headed straight for the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water and gulped down half before he set it down. “So it’s the routine that you need...” He studied Speed for a moment, ignoring his minds unhelpful words about how handsome and strong Speed actually looked. “What are three things you do every week without fail?” He asked finally.

“Long bike ride to relax, cook a large amount of food to freeze to get me through the week and sit down with a good book.” He replied instantly. “Usually all on the same day.”

“Good, just add cleaning your gun to that. Cook, clean gun, do your ride to wind down from that, then read your book.” Xander replied. “For awhile you should keep it on a list on your fridge or some where you look while cooking so you remember, over time it will become habit...” He grinned. “Even when you don’t have a gun to clean, just remember to clean it after every time you use it as well.” His eyes narrowed. “You’ll also have to test it, say go to a range once a week if you haven’t had to use your gun, just to make sure that it’s in working order.”

“So if it does fail I’ll know before I need it.” Speed saw the point and nodded slowly. “Once a week?” He looked...pained.

“No less than once a fortnight, it will help keep you trained too.” Xander nodded, sipping at the rest of his water. “I apologise for being so blunt yesterday, especially since we hadn’t met.”

“While it was shocking and rude you got the point across which I think that was your aim.” Speed gave him a slightly amused look.

“It was. Rio has told me a lot about his team over the last week, you and Alexx are the only ones I’ve met so far. He cares about each and every one of you that it really pains him when one of you gets injured or in trouble.” He nodded finishing off his water and tossed the bottle into the bin.

“why do you call him Rio?” Speed frowned.

“It was the name he was using back then, it was how I got to know him.” He shrugged. “Just like he still calls me Alex every now and then. It’s habit.”

“So you aren’t really an Alex then?” Speed raised an eyebrow.

“My real name yes, but I go by Xander.” He grinned. “We were both using parts of our real name. Risky yes but that’s the way of it sometimes.” He pulled the towel from around his neck. “When do you return to work?”

“Another two weeks, I’m still going through PT.” His eyes flicked to Xander’s wounded shoulder. “Should you have been doing that?”

“Probably not.” Xander grinned. “If it hurt I would have stopped just like I promised Rio.” He grimaced. “I got another two weeks myself before I should even be thinking about doing that according to Alexx and Horatio both.” He smirked a little at Speed’s blink. “Though Horatio did say that if it didn’t hurt I could so...” He shrugged.

“I’m guessing Alexx doesn’t know about that?” Speed smirked.

“No, if she knew, she would probably rip us both a new one.” Xander shuddered. “I tend to go a little insane if I don’t keep busy. So we came to a nice compromise.”

“What do think will happen when she finds out?” Speed chuckled.

“I’m hoping that I wouldn’t have to find out.” Xander grinned bouncing a little on the balls of his feet.

“Have you even slept yet?” Speed frowned, finally noticing the faint circles around his eyes.

“No, I tried to but I couldn’t.” Xander shook his head. “I was still wired, still am.” He grimaced. “Not really sure why, I mean I’ve been up for just over twenty four hours, done eight hours of dancing and three hours of training I should be nothing but a puddle of goo on the floor.” He frowned.

“From what I’ve seen of your training you are, a fighter, a good one, so maybe there is something...I don’t know nagging at you? Something that won’t let you rest?” Speed suggested with a small frown of his own. “All of our team get that way, when something sets off our bad shit radar.” He leaned against the bench. “Like Horatio this morning he knew something was wrong but he didn’t know what.”

“I don’t think so, if it was something like that I always know that there is danger nearby, that is nothing like this.” He shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. “It feels familiar, I know it is familiar” He growled. “I’ve been feeling it since I got here...it’s not just safety and protection this place gives out there is something more...”

“Then you will figure it out in time.” Speed shrugged. “It’s probably one of those things that will hit you like a sledge hammer and you will feel foolish for not noticing or recognising it before, but it won’t come while you are trying to figure it out.”

“More than likely, it always seems to work that way.” Xander groaned. “I already noted it in my journal so when it does hit me I’ll bang my head against a wall at how blatantly obvious it was.”

“Usually.” Speed snorted with a small grin of his own.

“So for now...” Xander moved and grabbed a note pad and made a quick list. “Here put that on your fridge so you’ll see it when you do your relaxing time, if it will help, tell Horatio the day and about the time you’ll start so he can remind you.” He handed the note to him which was a list. 

**Cook; Clean and check gun; Go for ride; eat and enjoy a good book.**

“Thanks.” He folded it and slid it in to a pocket, staring down at the bench for a moment. “Would you do that?” He asked quietly.

“Give me the number and the day and I’ll call.” Xander agreed softly.

Speed nodded taking the pad, jotting down a number, day and time before handing it back.

“Thanks.” Speed said seriously before turning to leave.

“If you ever need to talk...”

Speed just nodded before he left.

  


  


  


  


  


Chapter 5

  


After lunch Xander was growling at himself as he paced around the lounge room, he was still wired, he’d tried twice to sleep and failed. He’d tried everything he knew that worked to calm himself down enough to sleep and failed every single time.

As he paced he ran everything through his mind that he found calming and came to a sudden stop when one came to him that he hadn’t tried. He looked around the house for a moment, before he wrote out a note in case Horatio came back before he did, called a cab, grabbed his wallet, keys, his now fully charged phone and pulled on his shoes and hurried out when the cabbie honked his horn.

“Where to?” He asked as he reversed out of the drive way.

“Do you know a good motorbike dealer?” Xander asked pulling the seat belt around his body before looking at the thoughtful cabbie.

“I know a few, do you know what you want?” He inquired heading off to one that he knew.

“Something fast, smooth and has good fuel economy.” He shrugged. “I don’t really know much about bikes, just that I like riding them.”

“Well the salesmen here will be able to help you.” The cabbie nodded driving through the city until he pulled out the front of a motorbike sales yard. “That will be twenty six even.”

“Thanks.” Xander handed over thirty. “Keep the change, might not be much but it all adds up after a while.” He smiled slightly before he unclipped his seat belt and slid out of the cab and began looking around the bikes in the yard, looking for something that called out to him.

“Can I help you, sir?” A sales man came out and joined him. “Or just looking?”

“I’m looking for something fast, smooth, good fuel economy, not bulky or loud.” Xander replied turning to face the man. “Long rides are good for me.” He looked over the bikes nearby. “A friend has a Ducati and it looks like it runs nice.”

“Ducati does, good on fuel too, most are sleek, fast and mostly quiet.” The sales man nodded leading him to a group of bikes on the other side of the lot. “All of these are Ducati’s, from a few older models to the newest that just came off the line a few weeks ago.”

Xander looked over a few of them before he sat down on a red one, shifting a little to get comfortable getting the feel of the bike, before trying an older model.

“Are they all good on fuel?”

“I’ll admit that the older ones can eat a lot of fuel. What price range are you looking at?”

“Nothing more than 25,000, that’s my max out point. I’d rather one under fifteen.” Xander shrugged.

“Hmm.” The sales man looked around the bikes and then pointed to one. “It’s a good bike, fast sleek, only comes in red or black though.”

“What type is it?”

“It’s a Ducati ST4 ABS. Got good fuel economy, good speed, quieter than some bikes on the market.” He told Xander.

“Price?”

“Eight and a half thousand.”

“good price.” Xander grinned before considering the bike.

“You have your bike licence?” The man asked.

“Yeah, it’s about six months from being renewed.” Xander nodded, sitting on the bike to get a feel for it. “Hmm I like it, it there a bike shop nearby so I can buy gear?”

“Six blocks down.” He pointed in the direction of the shop nodding.

“Take check?” Xander grinned lighting up his face.

“Can do.” The man nodded with a chuckle. “You want to sign up for insurance and everything while you are here?”

“Better.” Xander laughed getting off the bike. “You got a black one in stock?”

“I’ll have to check.” The man looked over the bikes already there, there were only red ones in that model. “I think there is a black one in side.” 

Xander followed the man inside and looked over the black model and nodded before following him to his small office getting the paper work started.

An hour later Xander left the DMV with new plates on his bike, his fees paid and headed for the bike accessory shop. He bought, a set of helmets that had radios so pairs could talk with in a kilometre of each other, and could have a cell phone linked in and an mp3 player hooked in, two leather jackets, wax so he could wax the bike after it was washed and saddle bags so he could carry things with him.

Once done he headed for a gas station and filled the tank, hooked his cell into his helmet while he waited to pay before he took off for a long ride.

  


**

  


Xander returned feeling calm, centred and tired after sunset, dinner in his saddle bags.

He parked beside his pick up, out of the way of Horatio’s hummer that was already parked but the engine still pinging, showing that he hadn’t been home long. He carried his helmet and dinner inside, setting his helmet and keys on the hallway table, hung up his jacket listening as he moved to the kitchen table.

The faint sounds of a shower going told him that Horatio was in the shower. He grabbed a fork out of the kitchen and sat down to eat. Half way through he got up and pulled a soda out of the fridge before digging back in.

He looked up as Horatio came in dressed in track pants and a t-shirt, his blue eyes were shadowed and ringed with dark smudges. Probably much like his own were.

“Have you slept yet?” Horatio asked with a frown taking in Xander’s state.

“Nope, couldn’t, so I went out to work it out of my system.” Xander shook his head and pushed two cartons of Chinese towards the man. “Eat, looks like you missed lunch.”

“I did, I spent the rest of the afternoon arguing with the chief.” He sighed sitting down after getting himself a fork and sat down, digging in. “well more arguing with the others, but I finally got my budget expanded, enough that I can update and get two new hummers or replace three hummers and get two new techs so we can hopefully cut down on overtime.” He gave a smug happy small smirk. “Plus we got the update grant for the lab, we can finally replace all the old machines with new and fix a few small things.”

“A day well done then.” Xander nodded looking pleased for him. 

“I heard a bike, was Speed here?” He asked looking around.

“Umm, he was earlier in the day, but the bike you heard was probably mine.” He shifted slightly in his seat as he felt Horatio’s strong gaze on him. “It helps me unwind when I’m really wired so I went out and bought one and took a long ride.” He quirked a wry smile. “If I am lucky I might be able to sleep tonight.”

“How long have you been up?” Horatio asked tilting his head a little looking a little concerned. 

“I’ve been up since eight yesterday.” He sighed. “Over thirty hours, I tried a few times to sleep after I got home this morning but it didn’t happen.” Shaking his head. “Don’t know the cause but I was really wired.”

“Do you still feel the same?” Horatio asked quietly.

“Not as bad no.” He shook his head slowly. “I get like this every now and then, it can take me up to five days to settle down again, we never found the cause, if I keep active while on them I don’t have many problems, being idle is bad.” He finished his meal and threw the empty containers in the bin. “If I can’t sleep tonight I’ll head out for awhile so I don’t interrupt your sleep.”

“What’s the shortest that this has lasted?” Horatio asked getting up to get himself a coffee.

“Three days. If this is a short one I’ll crash tomorrow night at the earliest.” He shrugged. “It happens a few times a year...” He paused thinking and blinked a few times.

“What? It looks like you just realised something.” Horatio asked looking intrigued.

“It only happens when I’m single.” He frowned, “I might have to dig through my old journals and see if I can pick something up, might find a cause.” He shrugged it off.

“What do you usually do to wear yourself out?”

“Long rides usually work, but mostly I worked on my construction sites, it was something that had to be done anyway.” He shrugged it off, gulping down the last few mouthfuls of his soda. “That or I practice my self defence, I did that earlier, see how my shoulder could handle it.”

“Did you stop when it hurt?” Horatio gave him an intense look.

“I changed what I was doing when it did,” He nodded, meeting his eyes easily. “Speed caught me doing it, it wasn’t as intense I usually do it.” He assured him with a small smile. “It didn’t really hurt just twinged a little, when it did I eased up and changed my routine.”

“Good, knowing your body as well as you do, when do you think you’ll start looking for work? It’s been what? A week?”

“Nearly two.” Xander nodded. “I should be able to go back to my normal work outs and looking for work at the end of next week, if I’m lucky it should only take me a week or two to get work, by then even your medic won’t scold me, if I get something earlier I’ll start part time if I can.”

“Good, no one likes it when Alexx nags them for not looking after themselves.” He gave a small smile. “How was Speed? When I saw him earlier he was really quiet and hesitant.”

“He’ll be fine Rio.” Xander assured him. “He’s probably as bored as I am right now.”

“Has he talked to you?”

“He has.” Xander nodded, not adding anything else and quirked a lip when he saw the understanding look Horatio gave him.

“Good, then I will leave it there, as long as he talking to someone.” He inclined his head. 

“Think he would like to join me in a long ride if I offered to take him?”

“Only if he’s on his own bike.” Horatio smirked. “He’s as possessive of his bike as I am about my lab and hummer.”

“Fair enough.” Xander grinned. “Do you ride?”

“Very rarely.” Horatio shook his head.

“Do you enjoy it when you do go?” Xander asked tilting his head.

“It was very relaxing, I usually go when Speed asks after a long hard case to wind down.” He sipped at his coffee, wrapping his hands around the warm mug. “I find it’s one of the rare times I stop thinking.”

“That is why we do it.” Xander pointed out to him. “It’s freedom from thought, concentrating on nothing but the road ahead of you, at least that’s why I go.” He smiled leaning back on his seat feeling a peaceful look settle in place. “It’s even better when you ride behind someone.”

“I only ever see that look on your face after we’ve talked awhile with your head in my lap.” Horatio noted with a surprised but please look on his face.

“That is why I talk when you ask, it is the same feeling. Knowing that someone else will watch my back and will help me when needed or asked.” Xander agreed. “Over the years I’ve learnt that I can only rely on myself to truly watch my back and make sure that I am protected along with anyone else with me. But with you, I learnt that I don’t have to always be aware of everything around me, that you are more than capable of watching for dangers, so I can relax.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” He smiled slightly before finishing his coffee. “How long do you crash after one of these wired hours?”

“Twelve to twenty four hours unless something bad is happening.” Xander shrugged. “If you find me crashed out somewhere just cover me up with a blanket and leave me to sleep...don’t try and wake me.” He winced. “It could get messy and painful, unless it’s an emergency.”

“I will then. I’m guessing that creeping around is a bad thing too?”

“Yeah, just go one about your day normally, I know what you sound like and smell like so I shouldn’t react, if you see me tensing in sleep just tell me to be at ease.” He nodded, drawing invisible patterns on the table as he spoke. “And let me know when you want me to look for my own place, I should have the last of my money at the end of the month.” He gave him a look. “I know that I’m welcome here as long as I want to be here, and I will be until I find a place that I like.”

“That is fine, Alex. Have you called your boss so he knows you’re alright?”

“I sent an email letting him know that I’m slowly unwinding and gave him the figures that he owes me. He wrote back and told me very firmly that I’m not to tell him where I am or a phone number so they can’t call me back for unnecessary things, but to email him again if I decide to stay.”

“And if some emergency comes up?” Horatio frowned.

“For that they can easily find me.” He shrugged. “So by the end of the month I’ll have all my back pay and money owed for other things, so if I wanted to I could probably buy a nice house out right or a really good one with a small mortgage, or rent one, haven’t decided yet.” 

“Well whatever you decide let me know, I know a few good real estate agents whether to rent or buy.” He nodded before studying him for a moment. “You are wide awake aren’t you?”

“Bouncing.” Xander agreed with a sigh. “The ride was good, I saw a lot of the city, I might take another one.” He stood and tossed his empty can in the bin. “Want to join? A quick spin, then I can bring you back and go for a longer one, looks like you could do with a half an hour of non thinkage.” Xander offered. “I’m going to text Speed and see if he wants to go.” He pulled out his phone to do that when he saw the thoughtful look on Horatio’s face. He grinned when he got a smiley face of agreement from Speed and looked at Horatio and raised an eyebrow.

“Sure, let me change.” He said finally rising to do just that.

Xander pulled on his jacket and grinned when Horatio joined him in thick jeans, t-shirt and leather jacket, a helmet under his arm ready to go.

“Speed will join us here, I’ll let him lead as he knows where all the bad places are.” Xander said as he stepped out of the house letting Horatio lock up behind them.

“Did you get a plain helmet?” Horatio asked coming to look over his bike. “Nice.”

“Thanks.” Xander grinned. “No, I got a pair of companion helmets, it can hook in cells, mp3 players and you can change frequency so you can chat with a group on the same channel.”

“Speed and I are on seventy nine usually.” Horatio nodded. 

“Mines on one zero one point four, in case you ever need it.” Xander bounced a little on the balls of his feet while they waited for Speed. “You going to go with Speed?”

“I am.” He flashed a small smile. “When I know how well you ride, one day I might join you.”

“That’s fair enough.” Xander laughed and waved as Speed pulled in, pulling on his helmet after changing the channel so he was on the same as them and settled into place as Horatio easily climbed on to the back of Speed’s bike and started his engine, backing it up until he was in line with Speed. “I’ll follow you two, I don’t know all the bad areas yet.”

“How long you want to ride?” Speed’s voice came clearly over his speaker. “H, probably won’t want more than an hour.”

“Not sure yet, if you two want to call it a night and I still need to ride then I’ll head further out before returning.” He shrugged as they pulled on to the street, slowly picking up speed. 

“You got GPS if you get lost?” Horatio asked, looking comfortable behind Speed and easily turning with him.

“I do, I got my cell and it’s fully charges, I also got my pager, which the number for is on your fridge with my email, cell and voice mail too, in case it’s needed.” Xander told them, riding beside them when the traffic allowed it.

“I’ll transfer them to my address book so no one else gets them.” Horatio agreed.

“I got his number and pager already, when I was over earlier.” Speed told them and they could hear the grin on his face. “I thought it might be a good idea with him staying with you, and you lose track of him.”

“Good thinking, sometimes I can be hard to track down, which is why I have a pager and voicemail.” Xander chuckled. “we just going through the main city?”

“Thought I’d show you the sites, good places to dance, eat, have fun.” Speed agreed as they turned on to a new street. “Around here you are better off following, most of these idiots swerve a lot and don’t look.”

“Got it.” Xander agreed dropping back so he was following them easily through the streets, taking mental notes on the different places they were both telling him about. He smiled when he saw that Horatio was totally relaxed against Speed’s back, the tense shoulders were loose and he was chuckling and laughing freely with them after twenty minutes of speeding through the streets.

He watched their body language through the ride, asking questions as they went and wondered if they were lovers, would be lovers or just really close friends. Their body language spoke of a really close friendship, trust and love, but that didn’t mean that they were in bed together. It could be like himself and Rio, a mentorship, a father figure and friend.

“Xander, we’re heading back home, you coming with us?” Horatio asked an hour and half later.

“I think I might refill the tank and ride a bit longer.” Xander replied as they stopped at a traffic light. “GPS for truck and bike are on the fridge too if you can’t get me any other way.” He added. “The way I’m bouncing I’ll probably be another couple of hours.”

“Alright, come home when you are ready.” He agreed, with concern bleeding through a little.

“I’ll be fine, Rio, if I get into trouble I’ll call.” He promised.

“You do that.” Horatio said sternly before Speed peeled away heading home.

  


**

  


Xander sighed as he finally pulled in to the driveway at four am and parked beside his pickup, smiling tiredly when he noticed that Speed’s bike was still there. He entered the house quietly, locking the door behind him, set his keys and helmet on the table where they would see it and relax knowing he was home safe and sound.

Hearing a noise he peeked into the lounge and saw Speed sprawled comfortably on the pull out sofa bed, sleeping soundly. Shaking his head he headed for his own bed, stripping down to his boxers and slid into bed getting comfortable, and let out a small sigh of pleasure as his body and mind quickly shut down ready for some sleep.

  


**

  


Xander woke slowly, just enjoying the simple pleasure at waking up slowly, before stumbling out of bed, rummaged through his clothes for something clean to wear before he hit the shower.

Clean and dressed he walked bare foot into the kitchen, still a little groggy and headed straight for the already perked coffee pot, that he’d bought his second day in the house. Pouring himself a cup, eyes half lidded he sipped at it, humming a little as the caffeine hit him.

Hearing a snicker he cracked an eye a little more open and glared at Speed who was in the middle of making something that looked complicated on the counter behind him. He frowned a little as he realised that his instincts hadn’t warned him that the man was there, and realised that they had but they had marked him as a non-threat, safe, protector, as much as they had with Horatio. He hummed again with the next mouthful wondering when exactly they had done that, considering that he didn’t really know him and had only met up with a few times, but something inside had done so.

“How long did I sleep?” He murmured into his cup.

“Not sure what time you got in, but you slept through yesterday completely, it’s just after eight in the morning.” Speed said in amused voice. “You even slept through the neighbours fall out, all the yelling and screaming and doors slamming.”

“Hmm, good sleep.” Xander chuckled waking up a little more. “Got in around four in the morning, finally tired enough to sleep, was out like a light.”

“We noticed.” Speed snorted going back to what he was doing, he noticed that Speed’s shoulders were a little tense.

“What?” Xander asked half way through his coffee.

“Do you know you purr in your sleep?” Speed asked after a moment.

“Huh?” Xander’s head came up, his mug set down firmly on the counter turning to lean next to Speed. “I was what?”

“You were purring in your sleep, in a very happy, content way. H just raised an eyebrow when we first heard it, it rumbled right through your door.” He put down what he’d been chopping, wiping his hands on a tea towel and leaned on the counter next to him. “Every now and then you’d give this quiet little happy yip.”

“Huh.” Xander frowned a little tilting his head thinking about it. “Strange, I don’t think that’s happened in a long while.”

“Xander.” Speed pushed off the counter to stand in front of him. “People don’t purr in their sleep when they are happy, at least not to the extent you were, sounded like a bloody cat.”

“some people talk or walk in their sleep, Speed, okay so I purr, it’s just a quirk.” Xander shrugged. “It’s no stranger to me then getting up in the middle of the night to eat a tub of ice cream in your sleep, before scrubbing down the kitchen and returning to bed with no clue what you’d done. I’m used to strange things, they happen a lot where I’m from.” He poured himself another coffee. “It does explain a few things though.”

“Like what?” Speed frowned, crossing his hands over his chest.

“The feeling I was telling you about the other day. If I was near a wall I’d be banging my head on it, like I said I would be.” He shook his head in amusement. “So not used to feeling it that I forgot what it was.”

“What?” He grumbled.

“Safety, protection.” 

“You pointed those out and you said it was something more.” Speed growled.

“The feeling that I couldn’t pinpoint was affection, happiness to see me, you know all those positive feelings.” Xander shrugged blowing on his coffee to cool it down a little.

“Do I need to hunt down your friends and hurt them?” Speed demanded scowling. “I should if you didn’t know what those things felt like.”

“It’s been awhile.” Xander admitted softly, staring into his mug.

“damn you need better friends, Xander.” Speed shook his head.

“I’m hoping that I do now.” Xander looked up to catch Speed staring at him with a small smile on his lips.

“You do.” Speed agreed before turning back to what he had been preparing.

“So if I slept through yesterday, which means today is Friday, right?” He asked before gulping down half his coffee.

“Yes, H asked me to make a large lunch for the team for when they get here, the lab is shut down for the day and the team got the day off when someone put mice and snakes in the ventilation.” Speed nodded.

“So what are you making?” Xander asked nodding to the large bowl in front of Speed full of mince.

“Home made burgers, the meat needs to stand for a bit before cooking.” He shrugged. “Probably didn’t have to start this early but I was restless.”

Xander knew why, when his brain connected that it was Friday. Speed had to clean his gun and check it over.

“What time are they coming?” He asked causally.

“After one.” He shrugged sticking clear wrap over the bowl and stuck it in the fridge.

“Want to get it over with?” Xander asked finishing his coffee. “Half hour in the range, half hour to clean it, still gives you plenty of time to go for a ride to relax before you gotta be back here.” He pointed out. “The range will also tell you how your shoulder is healing, if it can stand the recoil.”

“Point.” He sighed softly as he washed his hands. “I did notice that you changed the subject from your quirks as you put it.”

“Maybe when I know you a little better I’ll share.” Xander shrugged. “Not even Rio knows all of it, just the bare basics.” He washed out his mug when Speed was done. “How’s your shoulder after that long ride?”

“slept on it funny.” He admitted rubbing his shoulder gently. 

“Truck or you can ride behind me.” He offered, drying the mug and put it away.

“Truck, it’ll be sore after the range.” Speed shook his head. “I won’t be able to hang on properly. You going to do one of yours?”

“Yeah, now that I got my licence changed to Miami.” He nodded, eyeing Speed for a moment. “We can leave the range time until next week if you want.”

“If I do that I’ll keep putting it off.” Speed shook his head.

“Fair enough, let me get my gun and spare bullets, then you can direct me to the range...you have your gun here right?”

“Yeah H gave it back to me yesterday, gave me this look that I couldn’t figure out too before he headed for work.” He frowned as he followed Xander out to the truck once he returned with his gun. “I can’t figure out if it was his, ‘don’t disappoint me again’ look, or his ‘I don’t know if I just did the right thing’ look.” He sighed as they got into the truck and he in putted the directions into the GPS unit. “It was probably both, since that was the second time my gun jammed, while on a scene.” He admitted staring out the window staring at the scenery as Xander concentrated on the road. “I know I’ll be on probation when I get back, I’ll be lucky to be allowed out of the lab, it will be a miracle if they let me keep my gun, then I really won’t be allowed on scenes.” He knocked his head a few times on the window. “And I wouldn’t blame them one bit.”

“Then you do your best not to screw up a third time, you’re already on the right way there. The trust maybe severely dented and battered but if they rag you too much tell Rio and tell them to back off.” Xander glanced at him for a moment before focusing on the road again. “Twice is more than enough to be incentive to learn better and practice your ass off even if you hate it with a passion, just so you don’t get dead.”

Something in Xander’s voice made Speed look at him and saw the sad, grim look on his face. “Experience?” He asked quietly.

“Not like you, but yeah it nearly got me dead a few times before I buckled under and learnt, even behind people’s backs because they thought I couldn’t do it. It took them years to learn differently, even when it was right in front of their faces and smacked them in the head a few times. Things got better for awhile after that....” He sighed pulling into a parking lot and parked turning the engine off. “Didn’t last long though.”

“I really need to beat your friends.” Speed scowled.

“Yeah well now they have to do without me, and will realised how much exactly I did and how much harder they are going to have to work without me there.” Xander smirked meanly.

“Don’t get me wrong, Xander but it sounds like you were in a gang.” Speed pointed out cautiously.

“As if Horatio would taken in a gang member.” Xander snorted. “No, I guess the best way to put it without you having any background or understand of what we did, is that we were a vigilante group and home protection of our town. Our town was so bad that not even the cops wanted anything to do with it, our yearly death rate was high, too high.” He explained getting out of the truck and followed Speed in, both had to show ID and gun licences before being allowed to sign in and headed for the range. He glanced at Speed who was frowned, not much liking his answer. “Speed just remember that nothing is what it appears, people lie, it doesn’t matter the reason but they do and there is always something bigger to what you are seeing.”

“I take it that one day you’ll explain that?” Speed grumbled setting up in a vacant lane.

“To be honest I hope that I never have to, especially here in Miami. It’s one of the smaller reasons I came here, what I’ve had to deal with over the last few years, isn’t here.” Xander gave him a look. “Just drop it for now, not in public, not where you can be overheard, most will think you crazy enough to throw you in the loony bin.”

“Sure.” Speed shook his head and shrugged it off, checking his gun, the clip carefully before clicking it all back together, put on the glasses and earmuffs, took aim and fired, trying not to flinch. He widened his stance when he felt a foot nudge his own feet and fired again, his grip on the gun was adjusted slightly and found it more comfortable and fired again.

Xander nodded to himself when he saw that Speed had it, and was doing much better he slid into his own lane and set everything up. Instead of kill shots he aimed for maim and disable, legs and arms. He emptied his gun twice and kept the sheets to show Horatio if he ever got curious enough to ask to see them and went back to watching Speed.

He wasn’t a bad shot, more than enough to pass his gun licence again if he had to. He lent against the edge of the cubical watching as he emptied three clips, marking each paper after he’d changed them over so he knew which order he’d done them in.

Once done, they exited the range, Speed bought three new clips to replace the ones he’d used and a new gun cleaning kit and let Xander take him back home. They sat down together in the lounge room and cleaned their guns thoroughly, he even let Xander check his over when he was done.

“How old it is?” Xander asked handing it back.

“A few years, think I need a new one?” Speed asked wiping it down, checked the clip and bullets before he put it back together.

“Soon yeah, the firing pin is staring to wear down. You’ve got a ballistics tech on your team right?”

“Yeah, Calleigh.” Speed nodded.

“Get her to check it over, she’ll tell you whether you just need to replace that part or get a whole new gun.” Xander told him cleaning up the mess they’d made and put his gun away. “How’s your shoulder? Good enough for a ride?”

“Yeah, should be fine.” He nodded.

“You want me to join? It don’t bother me none if you want to go alone.” Xander asked looking at him.

“Not this time.”

“Me time is always good.” Xander smiled. “I got laundry to do, before Horatio starts complaining about my smelly clothes stinking up his house.”

“Thanks.” Speed gave him a small smile before he headed out for his ride.

“Not a problem.” Xander said softly to an empty house before he went to do that laundry that was starting to pile up in his room.

  


  


  


  


Chapter 6

  


  


Finished with his laundry, Xander went through the fridge to check on his stock of soda and then the cupboards for his snacks, and wrote out a quick shopping list of things he was running out of, left a note for Speed and Horatio that he’d gone out for a bit and hit the mall.

He bought a few more clothes, mainly stuff he could wear while working or working out, a few more sturdy shoes, a few books that caught his interest while he was browsing, movies that he’d been meaning to see that were on special, then did his food shopping for the week, making sure that he had enough money left over to give Horatio for rent and bills.

Done he stopped in at the bank to get a statement and blinked at the jump it had made in the last two weeks.

“Can you check where this came from?” He asked, he had already gotten three hundred thousand from Giles before he’d left and spent nearly thirty of it, but that didn’t explain where the extra five hundred thousand had come from. Sure Giles had still owed him money, a further five hundred thousand for the mortgage, surely he hadn’t been owed four hundred thousand in back wages.

“Sure.” She nodded typing away for a moment. “One hundred of it came from a personal account Mr R Giles, the rest came from a business account, it’s noted here as Back wages, back sick leave, bonus, services rendered...” She tapped a few more keys. “Oh a years back pay for construction work and materials is still coming, the check is waiting to clear.” She shook her head. “The boss put a note that all workers are to check their email before they even think about complaining, apparently a few workers have asked about the large amount.” She shook her head in amusement. “They must have for him to put a note in the actual account.”

“so I’ve still got more coming on top of this?” He pointed to his statement.

“Yes, sir, I can’t see how much until the check clears properly, it only got posted today, it’s not completely in the system yet.” She nodded.

“Oh.” Xander blinked a few times. “Oh...Thank you.” He folded his statement and walked out shaking his head. He sat in his truck for a few moments trying to wrap his mind around it. “Guess I could buy a house here if I wanted to now, a good one.” He looked at his truck clock. “Just after eleven, really need that watch,” He muttered as he turned over the engine and headed back to the mall to get the watch and a new pair of sunnies and browsed through a few real estate agencies that he found there, getting house prices for places around the area that Horatio lived in. He liked that area, and close to the beach too, nice and private.

He knew that they wouldn’t be cheap, he figured he’d be lucky to be able to afford one even with most of it on a mortgage. He found three that he liked, without look at the price, one was a very much a fixer upper, he’d have to look it over before he even thought about buying it seriously. He looked over the flyers for the price and couldn’t find one and looked around for an agent.

“Can I help you?” A nicely dressed woman in her early forties asked walking up to him.

“I was looking for prices, I wanted to see how much they were before I got ahead of myself.” He smiled a little sheepishly. “I like this area, I’m staying with a friend at the moment, while I looked for a place.”

“It shouldn’t be a problem.” She gave him a friendly smile and lead him to her desk and typed in the reference numbers. “The fixer upper isn’t ours but the company is having problems selling it so they sent it to everyone.”

“Is it structurally sound?” Xander asked leaning on the desk.

“It is, if you want I can make an appointment for you to see it.” She offered. “It’s going rather cheap, because of the damage. It’s only three hundred thousand.” She tapped a few keys. “No, they just reduced it again, the owners want to get rid of it, it’s down to two twenty.”

“I’ll take a look.” Xander nodded in agreement. “What about the other two?”

“This one, the five bedroom two bathroom one is going for five hundred, it’s got a bit of storm damage from the last hurricane that came through here. The four by two is also damaged, it’s on a small plot going for four eighty.” She told him looking. “Both were just reduced.”

“I’ll look at all three if I can, I’m thinking one to buy and one to rent out after.”

“Sure let me see when they are open.” She nodded, calling the agents overseeing the three houses. “The five by two is open today until two, you can just drop in there, it’s not open again until Wednesday next week, the four by two is open tomorrow nine until midday,” She wrote down the times for him. “The fixer upper, the agent can take you whenever you want to see it, I got him on hold.”

“Near midday.” He murmured looking at his watch. “I can see it today.” He said thoughtfully. “I can meet him there when he’s got time, then I can go see the other open today.”

“Not a problem.” She took the agent off hold. “He can see it today whenever you want.” She told him, listening for a moment then looked at him. “Can you meet him in twenty minutes?”

“Not a problem.” He smiled.

“That’s fine John, sure good luck.” She chuckled and hung up. “The agent is John Newman.” She handed him the flyers with the prices and times and days they were open, along with the next time they were open. “Good luck.” 

“Thanks.” He grinned taking the papers and headed for the first house.

He parked fifteen minutes later and looked at the outside of the house and the overrun garden. “Garden definitely needs work.” He rolled his eyes and looked around the street to figure out how far he was from Horatio’s place. “About three streets, not bad.” He looked over the front of the house until the agent joined him ten minutes later.

“Sorry I’m late, traffic.” He apologised. “I’m John Newman.”

“It’s fine, Xander.” He turned back to the house. “So what is wrong with it?”

“The roof needs to be redone completely. You can’t see it from the front but the back has a tarp over it to keep the worst of the rain out, the back two rooms are exposed.” He unlocked the front door and led him through the house.

It was a nice house, a nice simple three bedroom one bathroom, single floor home. It was the games room, laundry and study that were exposed with no roof. Xander checked the walls, floor and support beams carefully.

“It’s the cost of replacing the roof that put people off, the construction company quoted one thirty to do it.” Xander snorted in disgust. “What?”

“It shouldn’t cost more than ninety to do, that’s including the wiring and materials.” He shook his head. “I’m a construction worker. I could do it myself over a few months for sixty.” He looked around again. “Anything wrong with the kitchen?”

“No, the house is only four years old, the old one was knocked down and rebuilt, so it’s all new.” He shook his head, starting to look hopeful. “It’s been on the market for two years and no one wants to buy it even at its low price, because it needs work.”

“Best place to have.” Xander grinned. “I did it with my old place...which I should probably sell.” He added thoughtfully. “how much tax, your fees and all that?”

“All up it would be close to two forty.”

“Add in the construction needed it will be three hundred.” He looked around again. “Has potential.” He looked through a few cupboards and looked out into the back yard, which was just a porch, a small bit of grass, washing line, a small waist high fence surrounding it, with a gate in the back leading to the edge of the beach. “I know you’re still in hurricane season, when does it end?”

“Another month or so.”

“So not much point in starting right away then.” Xander shook his head. “Wait until it is all over, and then start.”

“Be better to do that.” The agent agreed.

“How much longer are they willing to wait? I got some money I’m waiting to clear, and I want to think about it over night.” He asked. “I got two more to look at today and tomorrow, and I want two, at this point in time it’s this place and another, but it’s going to take me at least three days to work it all out.” 

“That shouldn’t be a problem.” He smiled looking a little relieved.

“Give me your card, and I’ll call in three days at the latest, tomorrow afternoon at the earliest.” He assured him, taking the offered card. “You want the bank to do the money or do you do check?”

“I’ll ask but we prefer the bank do it.” He replied leading Xander out of the house and locked it back up again, paused to scowl at a car that cruised by, Xander caught a dark skinned man of if he had to guess Cuban descent before he turned onto another street.

“Problems in the neighbourhood?” Xander asked looking after the car.

“Personal problem, one I’ll be reporting to the police again.” His scowl deepened. “It’s nothing to worry about.”

“I’ll give you a call as soon as I know, Monday afternoon at the latest.” He promised heading to his car and watched the agent take off. “Personal problem my ass.” Xander shook his head and headed for the next house open.

He looked it over with five other people who were interested, the damage wasn’t too bad, just some water damage at the back of the house, in his opinion it could be easily fixed for a bit of money. In the end after having looked it all over he decided that it really was too big, those rooms had been huge. The agent looked at him with a raised eye brow and he shook his head.

“The damage?” She asked sighing.

“No that’s easily fixed with enough time and money and the right people, it’s too big for what I want.” He shook his head before he left. He headed back to Horatio’s just after one. “Hope I’m not going to crash the party.” He murmured pulling in eyeing the four cars, none which had stolen his position. He turned off the engine and slid out of the truck and paused staring at the car on the far end, it was the same one that had passed him at the first house. “Interesting.” He murmured before heading to the door and unlocked it with his keys, before heading back to his car to grab his shopping, which he stored in his bedroom for now, he could put it away later when everyone had gone home. He tossed his jacket on the bed, the house listing in his back pocket, he wanted to go over them with Horatio and Speed for advice before he really committed his mind to it, and living in this area Horatio would be able to tell him if they were good areas.

“Horatio where is Alex, I thought he’d be here?” He heard the ME of the lab ask as he closed his door behind him, if he recalled right her name was Alexx as well.

“He went out to grab a few things.” Speed answered. “He might have gone for a long drive, he was gone when I got back at eleven.”

“If he’s much longer I’ll call.” Horatio assured her.

“No need, I just got back.” Xander said as he walked into the kitchen, smiling at the three in the kitchen. “No need to go drag my ass back, Rio.”

“I should hope not.” Horatio smiled. “Good day?”

“Not bad so far.” He shrugged.

“How is your shoulder, Alex?” Alexx asked looking at him. “You really should still have it in a sling.”

“It’s been two weeks, it’s fine, I’m slowly getting it back to normal again.” He assured her with a smile. “Trust me if it aches or hurts I stop what I am doing.”

“Have you had lunch?” Speed asked looking at him.

“No, you said you were making burgers, homemade burgers are always better than take away ones.” He grinned, bouncing a little on the spot. “I never turn down home cooked meal unless I’m sick.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Speed chuckled as he finished setting the last of the salads needed up on the bench, the buns were already cut and ready to be loaded, and the patties were already cooked. “Okay it’s already to be taken out.”

Every one grabbed a few bowls or plates and carried them out.

“Guys this is Alex, he’s staying with me until he can find a place of his own. Alex this is Calleigh Duquesne, Eric Delko, and Ryan Wolfe, he’s new to the team.” He introduced everyone as they got up to help themselves.

“So what do you do Alex?” Ryan asked sitting back down at the picnic table that had been moved closer to the house.

“Usually construction, I’m here on vacation, thinking about staying.” He replied putting his burger together.

“You aren’t working until I get another look at that shoulder.” Alexx glared at him, with a scowl. “I’ll take a look before I go.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Xander ducked his head shyly, taking a seat on the other side of Speed.

“What happened? If you don’t mind us asking.” Eric asked, looking wary.

“Got mugged.” He shrugged. “Jerk shot me.”

“I’m just glad those bruised have faded, you looked horrible.” Alexx shook her head.

“That was after a week, they were gone three days later.” Xander shrugged before biting into his burger and had to bite back a moan at how good it tasted. “Speed I’m going to kidnap you and hand cuff you to my kitchen when I get one, just to let you know.” He warned, taking another bite.

“Thanks for the compliment.” Speed chuckled. “And no you can’t, H will scowl at you if you do I’m sure the others will come rescue me too.”

“Hey I’ll share, just promise I can have one good meal a week and I won’t.” He assured him with a happy grin.

“I’m sure I can do something.” Speed smirked. “When was the last time you had a good home cooked meal?” He asked shaking his head.

“About five, six years ago.” He shrugged. “I can’t cook, neither could the ones I lived with, before that was a best friend’s mother until she died.” He looked down at his burger with a sad look, before he shook it off. “When Andrew started with us he took over the cooking, he’s not bad, better than the rest of us, but you have to be damn quick to get something before everyone else gets it all.” He saw the curious looks. “I worked part time construction and part time as a defence teacher at a boarding school, I like to keep busy.”

“Hard to do when recovering from an injury.” Calleigh noted with a small smile.

“It is, but I’ve done well trying to be idle so I could heal.” He nodded slightly taking another bite, licking a bit of sauce of his fingers, before reaching for one of the cans of soda on the table already. “Stealing my soda Horatio?” He gave him a mock evil glare.

“I bought more.” Horatio smirked a little.

“Hmm, so did I, guess I won’t need any for awhile then.” He chuckled. “It’s why I went out, my soda and junk food stashes were low.”

“Now you have plenty.” Speed snorted. “H bought a twenty four pack.”

“It was on special.” He shrugged, his face hidden behind half a burger.

A pinging beeping noise was made and they all reached to check their phones, each one shaking their head saying it wasn’t theirs. Xander frowned as he pulled out his pager and pressed a button frowning at the number, it wasn’t one he recognised, and only two people had the number. He looked at Horatio his frown deepening. 

“You give any one my number?”

“I wouldn’t without your permission.” He shook his head. “Think it’s your boss?”

“No for that he’d call.” He shook his head. “It’s not a Miami number or a number I know.” It beeped again and he glared at it as the same number popped up. “Excuse me, please.” He got up and went to his room, and pulled out a disposable phone out of a draw, it was an old model with no GPS chip and the number blocked and dialled the number.

“ **Epps.”** An annoyed male voice nearly snapped.

“This is Harris returning your page, how you get the number it’s not listed.” He asked, sounding annoyed himself.

“ **I got it from one of the girls, they said you’re the only one not in middle of something right now.”**

“That would be because I am on enforced sick leave and on vacation. No one has that number bar two and they are here with me.” He growled in frustration. “What do you need? Considering I am on the other side of the country right now.”

“ **Damn, I was told you were here in LA.”** He cursed. **“Do you know anyone nearby with your contacts?”**

“Try Angel, he’s still lurking around LA somewhere, he’s still got a few on his crew.” He rattled off a number after checking his other phone. “That’s the last number that we had for him, just be aware that he can’t go out in sunlight but he is one of the good guys.” He paused thinking. “If you can’t get him look for Charles Gunn, if they can’t help you he’d be able to direct you to someone who can.” He sighed. “Do you have a name of who gave you the number?”

“ **Dawn I think was the name, thanks for the help.”**

“No problem, but forget that number unless it’s an emergency, and I mean that LA is about to sink or explode. I’m retiring.”

“ **Understood.”** With that the connection was cut.

“Dawn.” He growled dialling another number.

“ **SWIC, Andrew speaking, how may I direct your call?”** A chirpy hyper male voice answered the phone.

“Andrew, look at the phone listings and tell me the contacts listed for me.” He told the hyper geek in a growl. “And don’t you dear say my name.” He listened as his pager, cell, email and even Horatio’s home number were rattled off. “That last number is a private number and belongs to a high ranking cop, Andrew scrub it, all of them bar the email.” He growled dangerously. “I didn’t give any one my number, no one, not even Giles he told me not too. I’m on enforced leave, on vacation. You hear me?”

“ **Yeah I hear you.”** He groaned fixing it. **“This is the only copy.”**

“Good, I want to know how the hell you got those numbers, I didn’t give them so you should not have them...at all.” He kicked his draws with a loud thump. “If you say Willow, I’m agreeing to put her up on charges for hacking into Federal files.”

“ **According to the files in the system it was her.”** Andrew gulped.

“Put me through to Giles.” He said taking slow calming breaths.

“ **A moment.”**

“ **Giles.”** His voice was calm, and a light clink told him that he was having his lunch time tea.

“Giles, get a hold of your selfish little witch bitch.” Xander growled deep in his throat.

“ **Xander?”** Giles asked startled. **“Oh dear what has she done this time?”**

“She hacked my files Giles along with a Federal Cop to get my numbers which I have given to two people down here and no one else...Explain that to me as my number was on the contact list that I just had Andrew fix?” He said in a frosty calm voice. “I got a call from the FBI in LA Giles saying that they got the number from there! This is the last time Giles, fix it before I turn her in.”

“ **Last time?”** Giles asked weakly.

“The last time she hacked my bank accounts and stole ALL my money, saying she needed it for shoe shopping! I had sixteen checks bounce, we nearly lost the school! FIX IT.” He yelled. “Or I will.”

“ **Of course, did you leave a file for me for when this eventually happened?”** He asked in a weary voice.

“Bottom draw, taped to the underside of it, it was current up to when I left.” He growled. “Everything and everyone.”

“ **Did she put it all back?”** He asked, he heard a draw open.

“All bar eight thousand, she’d already spent it, she supposed to be paying me back next month, if she doesn’t the FBI get her for hacking and theft, it’s automatic and she can’t stop it as it’s recorded on fifteen separate systems so she can’t hack it or magic it away.” Xander’s hands were clenched around the phone. “My accounts were triple locked, not even the top hacker in the FBI could get into them and they are twice as good as Willow.”

“ **I’ll deal with it Xander.”**

“You better ‘cause if you don’t and I don’t, the federal cop will, nothing I say will stop him.” He warned. “He likes his privacy.”

“ **Understood. I’ll send you an email when it’s done.”** He assured him sound very unhappy himself. **“Go and calm down...before you accidently set something on fire like you did last time you lost your temper...”**

“ **GILES! WILLOW’S HUT JUST WENT UP IN FLAMES!”** Buffy’s frantic voice yelled.

“ **Never mind.”** He sighed. **“Go cool down, I’ll deal with it.”** With that he hung up.

With a yell of pent up frustration and anger he threw the phone at the wardrobe and watched as it cracked the wood and the phone shattered into pieces and growled loudly when his door opened and Horatio stepped in closing it behind him and just waited patiently.

A half whimpering whine came out of his throat and slid to his knees, shoulders shaking with tears that wouldn’t come.

Only then did Horatio move and knelt in front of him before pulling him into a tight hug, murmuring in his ear, that it would be alright, he had his back and he’d watch for danger. No one was going to get to him or any of the others.

Xander felt himself calming enough to shed a few tears.

“Go and change and do your kata’s on the beach until you calm down enough to think clearly.” Horatio kissed his forehead releasing him a little while later. “No one will disturb you.”

Xander nodded listlessly and got up to change while Horatio left him in peace. He walked out in track pants and a tank top, following Horatio out, not noticing the look or ‘Don’t say anything’ that he gave the others as he walked past them all and onto the beach.

  


**

  


Horatio watched from his seat at the picnic table as Xander moved at first jerkily with the long stout stick he was using as a weapon for a good half an hour before his movements flowed gracefully and the look of determination and anger had faded from his face, leaving a peaceful look on his face.

“I’m still waiting to see what you want me to see.” Alexx said in confusion breaking him out of his contemplation.

“Look at his face and the way his body is moving Alexx.” Speed pointed to Xander. “He doesn’t understand mothering or coddling that we get from you, I’m guessing the only mother figure he had was the best friend’s mother that he mentioned before.”

“He looks at peace now.” Ryan noted turning to watch for a moment before turning back to his drink, and snagged a chip from the basket that Speed had put out for those who wanted to nibble after lunch.

“It’s how he calms down if he is too stressed out or angry to drive.” Horatio said softly.

“How long you known him?” Eric asked watching the boy.

“I met him eight years ago on an undercover op., his car broke down and he had no money, so he was working to get money to get it fixed.” He took a drink watching the boy. “At first we thought he was the one we were after, or another agent undercover, he was very watchful on what was going on around him, he was either a predator or like I was a hunter. I watched him for a week before I approached him, I befriended him when I was sure he had nothing to do with why I was there. He actually helped me catch the predator we were after, I helped him get home.” He turned his sights to his team. “I told him if he ever needed a safe haven to relax completely and not worry what was going on around him then to track me down and I’d watch his back for him so he could recharge.” He sighed. “A week ago I got an email from him, letting me know that he was in town and needed to recover.”

“So he’s a cop?” Calleigh asked with a small frown.

“He’s worked with a few departments and the FBI, but he’s a civilian. He’s a rare breed you only see a few times in a lifetime, he’s a hunter, a natural profiler really, no training, no supervision, life has taught him everything he needs to know.” He shrugged. “He had a really bad childhood and life, he’s made the best out of what he’s been given.” He eyed them all. “If he tells you something about his life, just listen, don’t judge, don’t jump to conclusions because you will be wrong and don’t spread it about, if you’re worried about what you’ve been told or heard then come to me.”

“You remember earlier I was telling you about someone looking at the Beach house we’ve been trying to get a warrant on?” Eric asked. “We’ve been trying to see who will buy it?”

“Yes, no one seems to want it.” Horatio nodded. “With the lack of evidence we have we have no grounds for a warrant.”

“Your boy there was looking at it earlier today, if he buys it do think he would let us in it before he does anything to it?” Eric nodded towards Xander.

“If I ask.” Horatio nodded. “Say nothing for now, if and when he buys it I’ll ask. He’ll probably talk to me or Speed about it before he does anything.”

“With the owner’s permission it admissible in court right?” Ryan asked to make sure.

“It is.” Speed nodded. “We would have pooled money to buy it to get what we need but we were told firmly that no one on the police force could to be admissible in court.” He snorted. “Though the judge slyly told us that if we got a friend not on the force to do it then he wasn’t going to throw it out of court. We just couldn’t get anyone to buy it.”

“So if he’s been here a week why is this the first time we’ve heard about it?” Calleigh asked. “And when did you two meet him?”

“I met him when Horatio called me to check his stitches, his second day here, I had to pull them because the wound was sealed. He was a right mess.” Alexx sighed shaking her head.

“Why didn’t he go to a doctor?” Ryan frowned.

“He never reported it.” Horatio shrugged. “His friends patched him up for protecting them.” He shook his head. “Patched him up and sent him on vacation, he hasn’t had one in three years or more.”

“It showed.” Alexx snorted.

“And you Speed?” Eric raised an eyebrow.

“Met him when I came back from vacation.” He shrugged. “Came over and he was sitting in the lounge room cleaning his gun telling me that H was at work if I needed him.” He shook his head. “Didn’t seem at all alarmed that a stranger had just walked into the house like I owned it.”

“I told him about you and that you had a key.” Horatio shrugged with a small smile. “The last time you guys were over he was out, and I did tell you last week that I had a guest that would be staying for awhile.” He pointed out. “That’s why I’ve been trying to get us home on time the first few days, he was a mess and needed help and a willing ear.”

“I wonder what happened, that was not a happy yell or crash.” Calleigh murmured.

“From what I heard, one of his friends did something again and he told on her, he’d had enough, covering her ass.” Horatio scowled. “I know that he threatened to get a federal cop involved, meaning me. I think he was more upset that someone had done something that involved me or my privacy.”

“I heard federal cop, private number, not listed and hack.” Ryan offered quietly. “On my way to the bathroom.”

“So someone hacked my records for my number?” Horatio’s scowl deepened. “If they did then the FBI know about it by now.”

“So either way they are in a lot of trouble. I did hear him order whoever was on the phone to scrub the numbers.” Ryan nodded. “Wonder if he will tell you who?”

“I think I already know who.” Horatio grimaced. “His best friend since kindy. She’d a hacker, a good one, as far as he knows she never been caught, he did say that she has a warrant with her name on just waiting until the end of next month, that if she didn’t do what she’d been told to by the judge then it would be launched and she’ll be arrested.” He smirked. “By the FBI with a long list of crimes, since they’ve been tracking her since they caught a trace of her a few years ago.”

“So he’s been protecting her?” Calleigh raised an eyebrow.

“Both he and the judge wanted to give her a chance to clean up her act. I’m guessing from that tantrum she hasn’t learned...if she’s unlucky the warrant will be served early.” Horatio sighed. “He saw her as a sister, that he’d walk through fire for and into hell for. He’s just been pushed too far, he’s still got morals and knows right from wrong.”

“But he can still be dangerous when threatened.” Ryan added. “Just like any of us are, or any one we care about or protect.”

“He is more so dangerous, than us Mr Wolfe, where we would mostly threaten he would either find a way to make it happen or do it himself. He is a fierce protector and from what I managed to get from his files a few years ago, he has very high friends in the FBI and a lot of others in lower positions, I’m not sure how or why but he does.” He shook his head. “I doubt he would use it unless it was vital to his or someone very close to him survival.”

“Would that include reputation?” Eric raised an eyebrow.

“Why do you ask?” Speed frowned.

“Rick Stetler was pulled into a meeting with the Chief, two other higher ups and three FBI agents, this morning before you made it to work.” Ryan replied shrugged.

“How do you know that he wasn’t there to give fake dirk on us?” Calleigh frowned.

“I heard one of them demand that he explain himself why he was dragging good officers names through the mud when they had done no wrong and then continue to drag them down after they had been cleared in every way possible and stalking them.” Ryan reported.

“I’m sure that neither of us have even mentioned Stetler to him at all or even mentioned his name in passing or grumbling about him since before he got here.” Speed shook his head.

“No, I don’t think it was him, he has been dogging another group of officers for the last few months along with us. One has family in Homeland, two have family or close friends in other high up agencies.” Horatio shook his head. “I saw some Feds up last week talking to them, and I’ve seen Stetler being followed.”

“Since we are talking gossip and rumour.” Eric straightened up leaning on the table. “The General has left Miami, his entire family with him, three days ago, and a number of gangs have gone quiet or shipped out as well.”

“They only go to ground when something bigger than them hits town and that means we’ve got trouble coming.” Speed sighed grimacing.

“Have you heard why?” Horatio inquired leaning back in his chair.

“Something about the mouth of hell, it’s a myth told to frighten children back home, Mama used to tell us that if we were bad that demons would take us.” Eric shrugged. 

“It is something that we should keep an eye on either way.” Horatio mused. “I’m sure everyone would appreciate the down time.” He looked around the table. “For now enjoy the rest of your day off, if we are lucky we can return to work tomorrow, we’ll be paged later on today whether we can return tomorrow or not.” He watched as the other left leaving him, Alexx and Speed to watch Xander.

“How long you going to leave him out there?” Alexx asked finishing her drink, getting up to help Speed clear up.

“He’ll come in when he calm and centred and not ready to go after his friend.” Horatio shrugged picking up a few plates himself. “That way he won’t blow again in a few hours.” He turned to watch him for a few moments. “It’ll probably be awhile, I can ask if he will let you check him before you go if you want.” He offered.

“He’s not moving awkwardly and he’s not compensating for strain.” She considered it watching him carefully. “No he should be fine if he is doing that well, if it aches later give him a heat pack, if it is still bothering him tomorrow take him to a doctor and get him checked out properly.” She shook her head. “Some people do heal a lot faster than others, from what an average person goes through he’s about a week ahead of them.”

“I’ll let him know.” Horatio nodded as he continued to help clean up.

  


  


  


Chapter 7

  


When Xander finally came in a few hours later he headed straight for the shower and changed into clean clothes. He joined Horatio in the kitchen, taking the sandwich that was handed to him.

“Sorry to crash the party.” Xander apologised half way through his meal.

“It was fine, Xander, these things happen.” Horatio told him with a small smile. “It is usually those closest to us who know how to make our tempers flare high and hot.” He sipped at his coffee. “What did they do?”

“Someone hacked my files to get my numbers, including your home, private number.” He sighed rubbing at his forehead. “Then put them all on the contact list. I had them all scrubbed then let my temper fly at my boss, he wasn’t impressed or happy with what they had done. He said he’d deal with it, when his temper rises he’s very unforgiving, especially when they are going to bring a lot of trouble down on everyone else for being nosy.” He shook his head. “I’m not sure what is going to happen now to them, they’ve had a lot of chances with everyone and this was most likely the last straw.” He finished his sandwich, getting up and rinsed the plate and got himself a cup of coffee. “I’m not really sure I can bring myself to care right now.”

“Then don’t. Wait awhile for your mind to straighten itself out.” Horatio advised. “Maybe in time you will manage to feel something other than anger and disappointment.”

“I doubt it.” Xander sighed leaning against the counter. “It’s the main things I’ve been feeling towards most of my closest friends for a long time. Yet another reason why I didn’t really protest the enforced vacation, I really needed to get away from it all.” He snorted bitterly. “I haven’t even seen my two best friends in nearly two years, or heard from them, I sent them emails every week letting them know what was going on at home and I never got a reply.” He sighed. “Speed’s right I really need better friends.”

“You are well on the way to that here already.” Horatio assured him with a smile. “How is your shoulder after all that exercise?”

“It’s fine right now, it might be aching tomorrow though.” He shrugged. “There was something I wanted to ask and get your advice on when everyone was gone.” He put his mug down and went to his room to get the brochures and smiled slightly when he saw that Horatio had moved with their drinks to the lounge room and already settled on the couch. He sat down handing the papers to Horatio and picked his mug back up. “I’ve seriously been thinking about staying here in Miami since my third day, every time I went out to roam I’d look at the different estates that I drove through, seeing what caught my notice.” He explained at the curious look that Horatio gave him after looking at the three papers. “I like this area, maybe because it’s so close to the beach and a quiet area.”

“I can tell you that this whole area is usually a very safe and quiet place, once in awhile we get noisy neighbours and a few bad eggs that try and hide in amongst the quiet ones.” Horatio nodded in understanding looking at the papers. “Which ones have you seen?”

“This one and this one.” He pointed to the two he had seen. “The five by two was really nice for such a low price but it was way too big for me, I’d rattle around in there.” He lent into the back of the couch. “I want to get one to live in and one to fix up and rent out.”

“What did you think of this one? I know it’s badly damaged and the owner’s are really starting to despair that they won’t be able to sell it.” He asked and raised an eyebrow at the amused look that Xander gave him.

“I’ll ask later.” He promised. “It’s a nice place, shouldn’t take that long for me to get it fixed up.”

“I know a friend tried to buy it last year but the cost quoted to fix it up made her back out.” He shook his head. “Over a hundred thousand to fix it.”

“Rio, I can do it in a few weeks by myself for probably under sixty, a crew doing it shouldn’t cost more than eighty even a top of the range company.” Xander shook his head. “Either that or the companies out here charge outrageous prices.”

“Have you got enough money to buy two and pay all the fees and taxes?” Horatio asked thinking over what he’d been told.

“I got enough.” He nodded. “Where is this one? I want to go see it tomorrow.” He asked pointing to the four by two. “I didn’t recognise the street name.”

“It’s a block that way.” Horatio pointed in the direction of the house. “It’s the street with all the bright yellow and blue roses on it.”

“Right, the one I pass every time I go out into the city.” Xander said in amusement.

“That one yes.” Horatio chuckled. “If I remember correctly it’s at the back in the middle of the cul-de-sac.”

“Sounds like it’s in a good place.” Xander smiled slightly cradling his coffee in his hands.

“You got enough after you buy them, and fix them up to buy furniture?” Horatio asked lifting a hand to ran his fingers through Xander’s hair and smiled slightly as Xander relaxed further into the couch without upsetting his drink.

“A bit, I’ll send for my stuff still in Cleveland if I need to, once I am sure that I really want to stay I’ll let Giles know, and he can sell my apartment there, he’s got the paperwork to do it for me.” He pulled a face. “I don’t think it would be wise to go back and do it myself at the moment.”

“No I doubt it would be.” Horatio agreed. “Did any other houses catch your attention while you were browsing?”

“Not really.” He shook his head. “I went through four different real estates and only found those three. For now they are enough for what I want, once I have them I’ll decide which one I want to live in and which one to rent out.” He shrugged, sipping at his coffee.

They sat in silence for a little while, finishing their drinks and set the mugs down on the table, then Xander changed his position, his head on Horatio’s thigh, with Horatio’s fingers carding through his hair, enjoying the peace and care he felt coming from the man.

“So what did you think of the rest of the team? What you saw of them at any rate.” Horatio asked a little while later, his fingers still moving through the thick silky hair. He knew the best way to get Xander’s honest opinion on a person’s state of mind after meeting them was when he was relaxed to the point he didn’t really think about what he was saying, unless there was something about the person that confused him that he had to work it out.

“Calleigh will go with the flow of what is going on around her. She’ll listen to everyone’s opinion before making up her own mind, she won’t judge straight away, not until she has all the facts.” Xander said quietly staring at the blank TV as he spoke. “Eric is suspicious and tends to jump the gun and draw conclusions too fast on occasion...but there is something else there too.” He frowned a little before he smiled slightly as Horatio smoothed it away with his fingers. “I don’t think he likes Ryan Wolfe, there is hostility there. I caught a few glares he threw at him, though I don’t think that Ryan did. You’ll have to keep an eye on them when ever those two work together, they will clash and fight.”

“And Mr Wolfe?” He asked when Xander and been silent for awhile.

“Ryan Wolfe is eager to please and wants to prove to the team and you that you haven’t made a mistake letting him try. He’s hoping that he will have proved himself by the time Speed gets back.” He thought about it for a moment. “He won’t need supervision to do his work, just someone to check his conclusions once he has a handle on things, he’ll work best with a firm hand but praise him when he has done a good job.” He smiled slightly. “Much like myself. He knows that he is new and that he is standing in for a good friend of the team and he will expect to be on the shit list for a while but he will only take it for so long.” He warned, he went silent for a moment. “Has he got a problem or just nervous around all of you? He was fidgeting a lot, like he was itching to do something?” He asked after a moment.

“He has mild OCD, I’ve made a few allowances for it, but it mainly kicks in when he sees a mess or makes one he has to clean it, thoroughly.” Horatio explained. “He tried to mainly take it out on his guns, his own place and tries hard to keep it out of the lab.” He gave a slightly crooked smile. “Doesn’t always work when he spills something but he is trying not to let it rule him.”

“Hmm, then add that to everything else he will do everything his way, he will probably bowl over a few people to get it done, don’t change things on him suddenly, it will set his OCD off.” Xander advised. “People with OCD don’t react well to change, especially if it is sudden and unexpected.”

“That I do know.” He agreed. “Are you going to go out tonight?”

“No, not tonight. I’ll catch up with my email and do something calm for the night and tomorrow I’ll go and check out the other house.” He shook his head slightly so not to dislodge the fingers in his hair. “Who is cooking tonight? I think we’ve had take out every night since I got here.”

“Speed left a casserole in the fridge for us.” He smiled. “We just have to reheat it when we get hungry.” He patted his shoulder. “I’ll reheat it in an hour and we can have an early dinner.”

“Sounds good.” Xander agreed sitting up. “I’ll go and check my email then.” He gave Horatio a happy grin before he nearly bounced to his room, while Horatio chuckled at his sudden activeness.

  


**

  


Xander walked through the front door of the four by two, twenty minutes after it opened and began to explore after giving the real estate agent a small smile. The bedrooms were all a good size, that even when they were filled with furniture they wouldn’t looked cramped, he didn’t like the kitchen, it was very lopsided but he figured he could change that if he bought it. He found the storm damage on the back patio, the wood had broken in a few places and he could tell that the back sliding door had been replaced. He looked up as the agent joined him.

“Is this the only storm damage?” He asked pointing to the deck.

“The roof has a few spots that needs replacing, and the floor boards inside the door are warped.” She shook her head. “The inspector thinks this wall...” she pointed to the wall near the door. “Also has water damage, he said though if the plaster dried it should be fine but to get the new owner to double check it.” She watched him as he looked around a little more. “Are you interested? I’ve had this place open every week and lately no one seems to come by.”

“I am.” He nodded, checking the over the last few rooms. “It’s going for four eighty?”

“Four seventy, the owners just reduced it.” She shook her head. “They want it sold.”

“So fees and tax it would be four ninety?” He asked tilting his head.

“Yes.” She nodded blinking a few times in surprise.

He walked back to the backdoor and looked over the back yard, it was nice, lawn was green, there was even a modest size shed against the left side of the fence, a small garden at the very back but otherwise it was all lawn.

“I can work with this.” He decided nodding and turned back to face her. “I’ll happily put an offer in at the asking price.”

“Sure.” She led him to a small table that was near the kitchen and had him fill out some paper work for the offer taking his details. “I’ll call in a few days if there is a counter offer or if they go with yours.” She told him happily after he signed everything.

“I look forward to hearing from you.” He grinned back and left. As he drove he called John Newman telling him that he had decided to take the house and when would be a good time to do the offer paper work. He had to smile at the relief that came across on the other man’s voice when he said he was at the office and they could do it right away if he was ready. He double checked the address with the man and said he would be right there.

Half an hour later the papers were all signed and he was again told he would be called in a few days if the offer was accepted.

It left him with nothing to do and it wasn’t even half past ten in the morning. Not wanting to really go anywhere he headed back home and pulled a few blocks of wood that he had bought at the beginning of the week along with carving knives and settled down on the patio to carve, listening to the waves as he let his hands carve, while his mind drifted. 

**

  


The sound of the back door opening pulled him out of his thoughts, breaking his meditation and looked over his shoulder to see Rio step out carrying two mugs of steaming mugs and sat down beside him and set a mug close to him, set his own down and leaned on his knees, hands clasped between his knees staring out at the ocean.

Xander dusted off his pants and set the mostly finished piece of carved wood aside and set his knife aside, wiping his hands on a rag that hung on his shoulder. He glanced at Rio again before picking up his mug and sniffed at it before a small pleased smile lit up his face and sipped at the extra sweet hot chocolate. He just held it warming his hands, letting it relax him a little more, he knew that Rio wanted to talk and this was their usual beverage of choice for serious discussions, that would tread in to territory that he had previously marked as unapproachable. 

“And today’s nerve racking topic that will most likely have us both uncomfortable is?” He asked softly, turning his eyes to the waves.

“You told me once if I could get up the nerve to ask that you would tell me why you seem so animal like, why you scream predator when you get lost in your dancing.” Rio replied looking down at his hands. “The reason I ask Alex, is because it is coming out more often, especially when you sleep.”

“You need to know if it is a danger to you or your friends.” Xander nodded in understanding and snorted softly. “You should really take it as a compliment, it doesn’t usually come out like that unless I am in serious danger or extremely relaxed.” He smiled at the raised eyebrow. “Since I know that I am not in danger here, I have let most of my barriers down, Rio. This is the most open to any one that I’ve been since I was sixteen, if one of my old friends turned up I doubt they would know what to make of me, none of them have seen this side of me in such a long time that they’ve probably forgotten.”

“So all this shows how much you trust me?” Rio raised both eyebrows this time looking a little surprised and relieved.

“Pretty much.” Xander chuckled. “I very rarely let that side out of me unless I’m hunting, I’ll admit that sometimes it comes out during clubbing but that is mainly because of all the other predators out there as well.”

“And what exactly is it?” Rio asked picking up his mug and just held it.

“A possession.” Xander sighed. “When I was sixteen, a few months after I found out about the strange crap that runs around at night. A Zoo keeper wanted to be possessed or as he thought it, blessed by a Hyena. I went to help out a kid who was being bullied and got caught in the spell with four others.” He stared into his mug for a long moment. “I had no control over what was happening, all I could do was watch, hear and feel. When the others figured out what had happened they rounded us all up, back at the zoo and managed to evict the Hyena’s from us.” He took a deep breath. “At least that’s what we all thought at the time, I pretended that I didn’t remember because I was embarrassed about some of the things that I did, only Giles knew differently. Months went by and nothing seemed odd, everything was back to normal, then over time I noticed that when hunting, especially on my own my senses were heightened, I was a little stronger, faster, and I always knew where my friends were nearby with just a sniff.” He sipped at his hot chocolate and stared back at the waves as the sun began to down. “But when we were hunting in a group I didn’t have the extras, it didn’t take me long to realise that it was hiding from them, didn’t want to be noticed. I did my own research, the Alpha Hyena had managed to stay or at least a part of it did and it really had been too long to remove, it had integrated with my own psyche by that point.”

“You hunted to keep your territory and pack safe.” Rio nodded slowly in understanding.

“I kept it hidden for a long time, until it was completely under my control.” He looked over at Rio and let his eyes flash green for a moment. “I used it as much as we used other weapons to keep everyone safe, it knows a predator on sight, even if they looked completely harmless, a few moves is all it takes to tell.”

“The others never knew?” Rio asked quietly.

“Dawn, Buffy’s sister has seen me hunt on my own, she knows that I’m slightly better than what the others see, so does Giles...” He pulled a face. “The only ones who don’t know how good I am on a hunt are Buffy and Willow, it never came out around them, the others just but it down to experience and training.” He sighed. “I think Giles always suspected, that a lot was different after that.”

“But no one actually asked.” Rio understood.

“No, just you and Speed.” He smiled a little bitterly.

“Can she take over?” Rio asked looking a mix between concerned and curious.

“Only if I keep her caged for a long time.” He shrugged. “You know about Hyena packs?”

“I did a study in high school.” Rio smiled slightly. “Why would you keep her caged?”

“Sometimes when pack is in danger and we’re around people who have no clue I have to keep her from reacting, the only real place I can let go is to club, most people think that the glowing eyes are contacts, there has been times where I haven’t been able to get out.” He stared at his mug for a moment before taking a few mouthfuls.

“What happened when she got out?” Rio raised an eyebrow.

“She took us hunting, took out all our frustrations out on the vamps and demons, patched us up when we got hurt and returned to base to sleep again.” He shrugged. “I only found out because of the wounds, bruises and someone asked if I had a good hunt.”

“You don’t remember?” Rio frowned not liking the sound of that.

“I do now, if she takes control it takes me a few hours to remember.” He nodded. “I had to talk to her about it, I had to know what she’d done so I knew how to cover my own ass. She always tells me when she’s gone out...” He shook his head. “She leaves a note before we leave my room, and when she returns she tells me if it was a good hunt or not.” He sighed. “We are both very content here, Rio, we’re happy, safe and protected,”

“And the purring and yipping?” Rio smirked.

“She’s happy and content to stay in.” Xander gave him a shy smile.

“Good to know.” Rio chuckled lightly, shaking his head, stared at the waves crashing for a few moments. “Have you been hunting since you got here? Either of you?”

“Once, a few young fledglings got out of hand at a club.” He nodded. “Most know that I won’t attack unless they are actively hunting in front of me, or causing trouble, to the point that they are being noticed.” He snorted. “I got thanks from one of the Masters in town, it saved him from having to step in and deal with it. They don’t like being noticed by officials.” He gulped down a bit more of his drink. “Miami is mostly a peaceful city on the demon front, they know that I am in town and will deal with any major upset that comes up if I have too and they know that I won’t be happy if I do have to step in.”

“Good to know.” Rio nodded leaning back in his seat, focusing on his own drink for a moment. “Are you going to stay? Or are you going to fix up a few places, rent them out and head back?”

“I’m still thinking about it, but I am leaning towards staying. I like it here, I could easily make this city my home, I think I could easily make a few friends that would make it worthwhile staying.” He smiled at Rio. “I’ve already started with you and Speed...”

“Would we become your pack?” Rio asked locking his eyes on Xander’s.

“Very easily.” Xander nodded. “I was thinking about giving it another week, see if these houses come through and if I get them I’ll talk to Giles about moving here and retiring from the everyday hunting, deal with only the major stuff, settle down to a normal life and job.”

“I’m not just going to come home one day soon and find you gone am I?” Rio asked looking curious.

“No, I’d give you some warning.” Xander shook his head. “Whether it’s for a few days or moving out, I’d leave a note or voice mail letting you know what was going on.”

“Good.” He finished his drink.

“So what is Speed making?” Xander asked as he finished off his own drink and set the empty mug down and smiled at the surprised look Rio shot at him. “I can hear him in the kitchen, I could hear him muttering while we were talking.”

“Sorry.” Rio sighed.

“He has a right to know since he is around so often and is a close friend to you, but next time I’ll decide whether anyone else is to be told or not.” Xander sighed. “If I didn’t trust you or him as much as I do I wouldn’t have talked until he was gone.”

“Understood.” He nodded slowly. “He’s making Lasagne from scratch.”

“Hmm, homemade food, nothing better to eat.” Xander grinned at him.

  


**

  


  


  


Chapter 8

  


Xander sighed as he closed his journal and tucked it away again amongst his clothes, before moving to stare out his window for a few moments watching the sun go down, letting his mind settle once more from the memories that he’d brought up to write down.

Shaking his head he headed for the shower to clean up and changed into clubbing clothes. He needed to get out of the house, to stop thinking for a little while, he’d been holed up in his room for the last three days trying to sort everything out in his mind. Dealing with what Willow had done, telling Rio and Speed about his hyena possession and what it meant to him and others around him.

He exited his room, grabbing his truck keys, wallet, phone, pager and jacket, and left a note on the kitchen table for Rio letting him know that he’d be out for most of the night and didn’t know when he’d get back but he’d call later.

He found a heavy Goth club and lost himself to the throbbing music, dancing along and with other partners as they came and left. He didn’t care who he danced with, male, female, a few Vampires, more than a few half breeds, he turned down a few offers to join them in the bathroom or the few private areas where dancers could get a little relief.

It was after midnight when he caught the scent of someone familiar on his way from the bar, and glanced around and stared for a few moments at a male pair dancing, the pheromones coming off them was thick and snorted. It explained a few things that he hadn’t been able to place in his mind when he had been doing the review for Rio. It explained the tension between the two very well. He turned to leave Eric and Ryan to it, he would keep it to himself unless Rio asked and it was causing problems for them on the job.

He rejoined the floor just as the DJ changed from heavy to pounding that it throbbed through the floor and body. He lost himself in the rhythm and the gyrating bodies around him

  


**

  


He left once the club closed for the night, not all that surprised to see the sun was already up above the horizon and headed for the nearest open cafe to get himself something to eat and a large cup of coffee.

While he waited for his meal he checked his pager and phone for messages, he had a text message from Speed’s phone and smiled at the _‘Have fun, text when you get in to crash, food in fridge. Speed.’_ It had come in at ten last night, which told him that Rio had once again had Speed over.

He tucked into his bacon and eggs when it arrived, thinking. He wasn’t sure that Speed and Rio were just work buddies, but he hadn’t seen anything that pointed to a hidden relationship yet. Nothing that couldn’t be explained by a really close friendship at any rate.

He paused mid sip of coffee when it finally hit him. That feeling that He and Speed had been talking about nearly a week ago, he’d finally figured it out. He let out a small groan and resisted dropping his head to the table and banging it a few times. Just like he said he would when he finally worked it out.

He was very much attracted to both men and his hyena approved.

He set his coffee down and rubbed at his face before leaning on his palm and staring out the window, frowning. 

He could deal with the attraction, but did he want to risk the budding friendship he had going with both of them? What would it do with the friendship that he had with Rio? Would he be able to still confide in the man if he began a sexual relationship with him? Could he risk the rejection? And if they were together would they even want him? Ask him to join in? If they weren’t together who would he set his sights on?

He sighed shaking his head turning his attention back to his food, he would just have to wait and see how things worked out. He would just have to hope that he didn’t become self conscious or awkward around them now.

Feeling restless he paid for his meal and headed for the nearest mall to browse, at nine he got a call from the female real estate person saying the owners had accepted his offer and the paper work was going through while she was talking to him. Once the bank had dealt with his money she’d call back so he could pick up the keys.

With a new bounce in his step to restrain himself from dancing in the middle of the shop he headed for the magazine section to pick a few kitchen remodelling catalogues, house design and headed for the nearest wood hardware shop to check out prices on everything he needed, before driving around to get comparisons on the prices.

After lunch Newman called saying everything had gone through and he could pick up his keys and house title anytime.

Thrilled he headed straight for the real estate agency, signed the house title, which he got a copy of, keys for all the locks and left a very happy and relieved agent behind that it was no long his problem.

He stopped by the bank to make sure that it had gone through, considering that he had expected to have to wait a few weeks before he got the paperwork and keys. That house had already gone through, two days ago, twenty four hours after signing the paper work, apparently the owners wanted a rush on it and no one was really going to complain. The other house he was told was in process of being taken out of his account.

That left him with just over two hundred thousand, as he had some checks waiting to clear, but when they did he’d have over five hundred thousand. More than enough to fix up both places and get some furniture to his own tastes.

He went home to go over all the different prices while munching on cold stew, when his conversation with Rio about the house hit him. He pulled his phone and texted him. 

‘ _Home safe. Call when free, not urgent.’_

Done with his meal he headed to his bedroom and opened up his laptop to send an email to Giles, asking him to pack up his apartment and put it in storage he was going to be gone awhile and could he find the paperwork he’d signed awhile back so he could sell the apartment and put the money in his account. He’d call in a few months and let him know if he was coming back or not.

He pulled out his journal and added that he’d gotten both houses, wrote down a few ideas that he had before he put it away and headed back to the kitchen, with paper and pencils and began sketching out what he wanted to change in the second house kitchen, there was no way he was leaving it the way it was.

He phone ringing startled him out of his plans and grunted into the phone, still sketching.

“ **H asked me to call, what’s up?”** Speed asked sounding distracted.

“Tell him the house he was interested in was sold.” He replied, squinting at the sketch he’d done. “He can come see me about it when he wants to go look at it, since you are calling I’m guessing he’s a bit busy right now.”

“ **Okay...I can tell him.”** Speed said slowly sounding confused. **“Hang on.”** His voice became muffled. **“Alex said the house you were interested in sold and you can see him when you are ready to see it. Mean anything to you?”**

“ **Has he got the house title and keys?”** Rio’s voice was calm.

“I do.” Xander replied without waiting for Speed to relay.

“ **He does.”** Speed repeated.

“ **Get Eric and your kit, you can help out on this one, give me twenty to call the judge, I’ll meet you at my place.”**

“ **You get that?”** Speed asked.

“Got it.” Xander agreed, erasing a line and putting in another. “I’ll be waiting.” He hung up and looked at the sketch with a critical eye, before starting another. Once he got back into the other house he would look over the sketches and the kitchen to see which one would look best.

He looked up when he heard the front door open and smiled tiredly as Rio, Eric and Speed trooped in and pointed to a small pile of paper work and keys on the end of the table.

“Have you slept yet?” Speed glared at the younger man.

“Nope, just coming down from my clubbing high.” He shook his head. “Was going to head as soon as you got what you needed.”

“What hour are you in?” Rio asked with a small sigh.

Xander looked over his shoulder at the clock then tilted his head as be calculated the time he’d been up. “Seventy eight hours, since I couldn’t sleep I spent the time working things out, writing a few people and then blew off steam for twelve hours at a club.” He shrugged. “You know how I get.”

“I do, but you’ve slept maybe what three days since you got here, and you’ve been here at least ten days.” Rio shook his head at him.

“Been like this for years Rio, it’s not going to change over a few weeks. It’s going to take me years to change it all around again.” Xander pointed out.

“True.” He sighed. “I have a paper for you to sign, judges orders. Just saying that you give us permission to search the house and grounds top to bottom.” He slid over a folded piece of paper.

Xander opened it and read it over, signed it and dated it before handing it back. “You got someone who can read blue prints? Make sure everything fits where it is supposed to?”

“I do.” Rio nodded taking the legal paper and tucked it into his jacket pocket. “We may have to tear into some walls.”

“Easily fixed.” Xander shrugged. “Just don’t tear down the whole house, let me know if you need a construction guy to check it over.”

“Will do. Thanks.” Rio nodded.

“I liked the house, otherwise I wouldn’t have bought it.” Xander waved it off. “Now I’m gonna get cleaned up and hit the bed, wake me if you need me.” He waved as he headed for his room, grabbing clean clothes and showered. He stood under the hot spray until his shoulders relaxed before getting out, dried off, dressed in track pants and singlet before he closed his curtains and fell into bed.

  


**

  


He woke twenty six hours later, showered, dressed and went hunting for that week’s news paper and began looking for jobs. He knew if stayed idle much longer he was going to go nuts.

He looked up as Horatio came home and gave him a small smile and went back to his browsing.

“We’re finished with the house.” Rio handed him the keys and the paperwork he’d been given. “Thanks for letting us go over it.”

“You find what you were looking for?” He asked setting them on the table.

“We did.” He nodded. 

“Good, then I can fix up the damage until I can find a job.” He grimaced and closed the paper. “Not much going right now, you would think that being Hurricane season companies would be looking for extra workers, but apparently not this week.”

“They usually hire a month before season starts so everyone is trained up before hand.” Rio commented. “Or they start hiring a few months after the season ends, they rarely hire during.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” He sighed. “Guess it will give me a chance to get the houses back into shape.” He shook his head. “How bad is the damage?”

“A small section of wall that covered up a door, it hid a basement.” Rio replied getting himself a coffee. “It was dry wall, the surrounding area probably just needs a few touch ups and a new coat of paint.”

“Sounds easy enough.” He leaned back in his seat. “I’ll take a look tomorrow, then I can start ordering supplies.” He tapped his fingers. “Then I’ll have to remember to insure it, so I don’t have to pay out of pocket if something happens.”

“Probably a good idea.” Rio agreed.

“Before I forget again...” He hopped up and rummaged through his room for his wallet and returned handing over some cash. “This weeks rent, thought I better give it to you before I accidently spend it on something else.” He looked through his wallet. “Need to grab some more spending money too,” He sat back down. “I think I need to go over my accounts and split them up, so I know what I can spend on the houses to get them in good condition and a savings account or something.”

“Might be a good idea.” Rio agreed. “How much has your boss got left to pay?”

“Umm, I think he’s still got a few payments left, but last time I looked which was a few days ago he’d paid off just over half, most of which went on those houses.” Xander shrugged. “I’m not that good at keeping track of my money, unless I suddenly don’t have any.”

“Might want to keep a close watch on your money now that you have a lot to keep track of.” Rio advised. “If you want you can grab some statements of all your accounts and I’ll help you sort it all out.” He offered. “Figure out which accounts you want to split your money into.”

“That might be an idea.” Xander nodded slowly, before he looked at the clock. “Why are you home early? It’s just after three.”

“Chief told me to go home before I lost my temper at the Federal officers doing a quality check on the lab.” He sighed. “It’s normal, it’s just to make sure all the grants we’ve gotten or getting are going to the right place, but they are damn annoying.”

“Oh, okay, I can run down the bank and get a current statement on all my accounts.” He nodded.

“You’ve got time before they close.” He studied Xander for a moment. “Everything okay? You seem a little distracted.”

“Just thinking about half a dozen different things.” Xander shrugged, putting away a few things, before grabbing his keys. “I’ll be back soon.” He said as he left.

He returned half an hour later and settled down at the kitchen table with Rio and a note book to take notes on.

“Alright this is my main account that everything has been going into.” He handed over a dozen sheets of paper.

“Nice balance.” Rio blinked at the last and final balance on the last page. “Is there more coming?”

“Umm...” He looked at it counting it over. “Another hundred thousand and the eight thousand that Willow needs to repay in the next two weeks.” He nodded.

“Just over eight hundred thousand, that leaves you more than enough to play with, so how are thinking about splitting it up?” Rio asked setting the papers to the side.

“I was thinking, three hundred thousand in one account for the houses, for repairs and renovations and what’s left can be used for taxes and what not.” Xander said writing that out.

“Alright that still leaves you with five.” Rio nodded agreeing.

“Put another two in a savings account that I can only access through the bank, maybe invest some of that.” He handed over the statement for that account. “Most of that is from when we last met, what I didn’t spend on getting the car fixed and getting home.”

“Forty eight thousand...how much did you make during those months there?” Rio asked curious.

“About that much, I spent six getting the car fixed and going home, what I managed to save over the last few years I always put some into that account so no one could touch it, including me.” He explained. “I’ve had to dip into it a few times over the years but I always tried to put it back.”

“Good idea, so you’re thinking of putting two hundred thousand in there?”

“Yeah maybe more.” Xander nodded. “Put one into checking, just in case, I can’t use my credit card for something, that’s only got a two thousand limit.”

“That still leaves you with two hundred thousand...” He looked over the different statements. “My advice would be to put everything in credit once you have everything for the houses set up, water, electricity, phone, net, cell...all bills that way you won’t have to worry about them for awhile and can focus on other things.”

“I like that idea.” Xander grinned noting that idea down. “I’ve already paid this year’s land taxes.” He noted as he checked his house titles for the houses that he’d bought. “I can always put more on them and try and keep them in credit for awhile.”

“It would be a better idea, I try and do that, that way when the bill comes once a year I don’t have a heart attack.” Rio chuckled.

“So I’ve still got to get the utilities in my name for both places, would I do that at city hall or elsewhere?”

“You can get them done there.” Rio nodded in agreement. “Make sure you take all your ID and the titles with you, they will file them for you.”

“Good.” He wrote out what he wanted and then looked at it.

300,000 for new account for working on houses and bills.

100,000 for checking account.

200,000 for no access savings/emergency account.

“That still leaves over two hundred thousand in my saving account.” He grimaced. “I can always put more in my emergency fund, leave myself with fifty thousand in my main account.”

“Okay, let’s see, how much is in there right now...” Rio picked up the right statement. “Let’s see, currently there is over seven hundred....take out the six that you want to put elsewhere, add the money coming so it leaves you with two in your main account.” He went over it to make sure. “So if you put another one in your emergency funds, pay all your bills in credit and then put everything else either in your work fund leaving yourself with fifty thousand.”

“Okay.” He wrote that out. “How much in credit should I put everything do you think?”

“Well, pick which house you are going to actually live in and them turn everything on, the one you are renting only turn on that water, gas, and power.” Rio suggested. “Average bills are around the two hundred mark with someone living there, so if you pay them all up front at say seven hundred each, see how long that lasts, then you can add to them accordingly.”

“Is trash collection counted in the house taxes?” Xander asked.

“Yes, it is.” He nodded. “Another thing to look at is full insurance coverage for your bike and truck, that way if something happens to one of them you are covered enough to get a replacement, along with any health insurance you have.”

“Already have full insurance on the bike, including replacement, did that when I bought it, but only for a year.” Xander nodded making a note to pay his insurance for a few years if they would let him. “Looks like I’m going to busy tomorrow.” He looked at the clock. “I could get some of this done now, bank doesn’t close until five.”

“Restless already?” Rio shook his head in amusement.

“I’m used to being flat out all the time, as much as I’ve enjoy the last two weeks of being idle and recovering I like to get things done as soon as I know they have to be done.” Xander shrugged gathering everything up. “Plus I don’t like all that money just sitting there, makes me feel unsettled.”

“Don’t forget to go to IRS too, to report your money income too, or they are going to get mean.” Rio warned. “City hall closes at five as well.” He added

“I’ll do that tomorrow.” Xander nodded and headed out again.

  


**

  


When done with the bank, he headed to city hall to get everything transferred into his name and paid everything in credit as soon as it was on the system. 

Still finding that he had a bit of time before five, he tracked down his insurance company to see if he could pay for a few years and get full coverage on his truck. He managed to get full coverage easily enough but couldn’t pay more than a year in advance.

A little frustrated he drove around until he found the IRS building so he knew where it was and note the times so he could come back tomorrow and was surprised that they were open late, they weren’t due to close for another hour so he took his statements in with him to see if he could get it done then.

An hour later he walked out with his accounts a little lighter then when he’d gone in, not that surprised that he’d had to pay a rather large tax amount for all the money he’d received over the last two weeks, but he thought that thirty thousand was a bit much in a large chunk.

He was relieved that he couldn’t have to do it again until next year.

Errands done he went home.

During the drive he wondered if he should tell Rio about his realised feelings for him and Speed. He knew that there was a chance that it could strain the friendship he had with both men if he did tell, but apparently Rio had already noticed that something was wrong, during that half hour he’d spent with Xander, and he knew that if it continued Rio was going to worry.

He didn’t think he could talk to Speed about it, they weren’t that close and he was uncomfortable about talking about something so personal with him, especially if it was going to damage what friendship that they had already built.

He parked next to the hummer and headed in putting the paperwork away and found Rio sitting on the couch reading. He hesitated just out of view for a moment, chewing on his lower lip, before he screwed up his courage and joined him on the couch, it wasn’t like he had anyone else that he could talk to and ask for advice.

He sat curled up in one corner, watching as Rio put the book aside, watching him.

“What’s bothering you, Alex? I haven’t seen you this worked up about something since our first private dance.” Rio asked in concern.

“You know how something has been bothering me since I first showed up?” Xander asked, picking at his nails as he spoke.

“Yes.” Rio nodded.

“Well I figured it out the other day, and now I don’t know what to do about it. I don’t know how to react or how others are going to react, when told.” He admitted quietly. “I’m just getting settled here and I don’t want to make things...uncomfortable for anyone.”

“Alex you are starting to ramble.” Rio gave him an amused look. “How about we start with what you figured out?”

Xander squirmed in his seat for a minute and sighed. “I’m attracted to you and Speed.” He picked at his pants. “And not just in a platonic you are my friends way.”

“I see.” Rio stared at him steadily for a moment. “You’re afraid that it will interfere with the friendship you have built up with us both?”

“Yeah, it’s stronger than usual because the hyena likes you both as well and I don’t know what kind of friendship you two have, most people I can tell, the hyena is really helpful at helping me sort that out but you two...well I can’t tell if it is just a really close friendship or you two are really good at hiding...” He flushed a little in embarrassment. “I don’t want to get in the way of that, whichever it is.”

“Speed and I have always been close friends, on occasion we have slept together, but not in awhile.” Rio answered him calmly, settling back into his seat. “We have on some occasions even taken a third in with us over the years. You wouldn’t get in the way of that, if it did happen. We still see other people.” 

“I don’t know what to do, Rio.”

“Well, there are a few options, you can ignore it and hope that you don’t strain the friendships you already have by being awkward about your feelings, you tell us both and we’ll see what happens.” Rio suggested. “It is all up to you, how, when, where, and how fast, that is all up to you.” He smiled slightly. “I won’t turn you away Alex, whether it’s a relationship you want or if you just want to explore.”

“That’s one less worry then.” He gave him a weak smile.

“The one thing I want to know is how your hyena is going to act, knowing that...we have other partners at times.” Rio raised an eyebrow at him. “While we could become exclusive, we at this moment won’t start out that way.”

Xander tilted his head slightly thinking about that. “As long as I understand that, she will have to put up with it, as long as we both know that from the beginning then it shouldn’t be a problem...though she does get possessive and protective at times, to those she likes and marks as pack...never found anyone before that she wanted to mark as a mate.”

“She thinks we could be potential mates?” Rio asked in surprise.

“Yeah, you both protect the pack very well, your current pack and territory, which is Miami and your team.” Xander nodded slowly. “You’ve taken me in, helped me, protected me, you and Speed have both done that. That makes you pack in her eyes until you go too far...which is what Willow did, she got cast out of the pack a few years ago.”

“Hmm, I think it is something that we will all have to discuss, as uncomfortable and embarrassing as it may be for you.” Rio nodded in understanding. “Anything we should avoid being marked as a mate unless we are absolutely sure? For future reference.”

“Don’t bite my neck, kissing and licking is fine but don’t bite, that’s mate territory. That’s the only big no no, that I know of, she might come out a bit during sex, which like all other times is noted by a slight glow in the eyes and a creepy little laugh, the purring is nothing to worry about, it when she growls that you should worry.”

“Noted.” Rio nodded. “For now are you happy to just see how things go naturally?”

“Yeah...does your team know?” He nodded.

“No, they only know that Speed and I are close, probably more father and son, which we are at times, it’s just that sometimes it slips into lover category.” He shook his head.

“Then I’ll make sure not to expose you.” Xander inclined his head. “How do I tell Speed? I know he was a little freaked about the whole hyena thing.”

“More freaked that it could and did happen, not because it’s still there or in you.” Rio assured him. “As to telling him, well, you two are usually rather blunt with each other, go with that.” He smiled slightly. “He usually prefers blunt to beating around the bush. He has tomorrow off, call him and meet up with him somewhere and talk.”

“He won’t be...” Xander trailed off.

“No, Alex, he’ll probably be a little flustered, and flattered, he’ll go away and think it all over and then give you an answer at a later time.” Rio reassured him. “Just remember to tell him that I’m included in this and what I’ve said, or tell him to talk to me and I’ll go over it with him.”

“Thanks.” His smile was a little stronger and shifted in his seat.

“Come here.” He held out his arm and smiled as Xander, settled down in his usual position on his thigh and ran his fingers through his hair. “We’ll get it all sorted out in time, Alex. Even if we do go down that road, I’ll always be here to talk to you, just like always.” He watched as the hand that had, had a tight grip on his pants loosen as Xander relaxed, glad that he had guessed right at what had been worrying him. “If we do, we do, if we don’t, we don’t. No hard feelings.”

“I can work with that.” Xander murmured, letting his eyes drift shut to enjoy the petting.

**

  


  


  


Chapter 9

  


Xander pottered around the house, trying to kill time and not feel sheepish at the amused look that Rio had thrown at him before he had left when he had been called out to an early scene.

When the clock finally told him that it was just after nine he called Speed hoping that he wasn’t waking up the grumpy man on his day off.

“Speedle.” Speed answered, in the background was the sounds of dishes being moved about.

“Hey Speed, it’s Xan.”

“What’s up?” Speed asked. 

“It’s Friday, Speed.” Xander pointed out, leaning against the back of the couch to stop himself from pacing.

“I know, that’s why I have the day off, your point?” Speed drawled.

“Speed.” Xan sighed. “What did we do last Friday?” Xan asked, with a slight shake of his head.

“Oh.” Speed sounded uncomfortable. “That.”

“Yes that. I was kinda hoping afterwards we could talk?” Xander asked, wincing when he heard that uncertainty in his voice.

“Yeah sure, there is a cafe not far from the range.” Speed agreed quietly. “I’ll meet you there, when?”

“Sooner you get it done, the sooner you can forget about it for another week.” Xander told him with a small smile. 

“Sure, I’ll meet you there in twenty.” Speed sighed before hanging up.

“And before we both lose our nerve.” Xander muttered, before scooping up his bike keys, his helmet, made sure that his wallet was on him, his cell and pager in his jacket and his gun was secured and headed out.

He parked and entered the range, booking two lanes, showing his ID and licence and waited leaning against the counter.

“Who you waiting for sugar?” The woman behind the counter asked after he had been standing there for twenty minutes.

“Detective Speedle.” He sighed. “I’ll be back, see if I can get him on the phone.” He headed out side and slid his helmet on, changing to the channel Rio had told him about. “Speed? You read me?”

“Yeah I read you, ETA Ten minutes, traffic snarl.” Speed growled back.

“Roger that, I’ll meet you inside, I booked us in already.” Xander informed him.

“Roger and over.” 

He pulled the helmet off and headed back in. “Bad traffic, he’ll be here soon.” He told the woman before heading back to the two lanes he had booked. He donned the ear mufflers and goggles and took a few shots, before straightening and settled down in his mind, centring himself before taking a few more, emptying the clip.

He clicked the safety on and slid the empty clip out and slid in a new one. He turned when he sensed Speed was near and tilted his head and raised an eyebrow at the grumpy look on his face.

“Three clips?” Speed grumbled as he got into his own lane.

“Two for practice and one for stock up.” Xander nodded, coming to stand behind him watching as he set up. “I’m just watching today, though I will tap you if your stance needs correcting.”

“Thanks.” Speed nodded, sending out the paper. “H pulled a surprise inspection on my gun two days ago.” Speed said casually as he slid a clip into the gun. “He looked pleased that it was clean.”

“Good, you get Calleigh to look at the pin?” He asked, tapping on foot to correct his stance a little.

“Yeah, she replaced it for me.” Speed nodded, taking a deep breath and let it out slowly as he pulled the trigger.

Xander watched as each bullet went through the paper, wounding shots only, as they were taught to take.

“Shoulder still stiff?” Xander asked. “You’re pulling a little to the left.”

“Yeah, I have to build it back up.” Speed nodded. “Not sure how to compensate yet.”

“Aim a little more to the right, see if that helps.” Xander told him, watching as he changed papers, and shot again emptying out the first clip. “Better, as the shoulder gets better you can adjust.”

Speed changed papers again and slid in a new clip. This time he went for kill shots. When his clip was empty they collected their gear, cleaned the gun in the range in an area that was marked for that purpose and then headed out for the Cafe, with Xander following Speed.

They ordered a lite early lunch and settled down in a booth away from the other customers.

“So, talk.” Speed said bluntly, stabbing some of his salad.

“Remember our conversation about me banging my head against the wall?” Xander asked, looking down, not able to look him in the eye and fighting from shifting in his seat.

“Yeah,” Speed nodded. “You figured it out?” He sounded amused.

“Yeah, the other morning, nearly brained myself on a cafe table when it hit me.” He sighed.

“And?” He waited a moment watching as Xander stabbed at his food. “Just be blunt, it seems we are good at being blunt with each other.” Speed prodded, sipping at his bottled water.

“Sexual attraction and my hyena approves.” He said bluntly but quietly, so it wouldn’t travel past them. “Of you and Rio.” He looked up as Speed slowly put the bottle down, and set his fork aside.

“Well I can’t say that I am surprised about H, I noticed it before.” He smiled slightly. “Can’t really blame you about that.” He leaned back in his seat. “You talked to him?”

“Last night.” Xander nodded, putting his fork down and sipped at his soda. “He told me to talk to you.” He sighed. “I hope that I haven’t made things awkward between us.”

“No, I’m a little surprised and flattered.” Speed shook his head. “What else did he tell you?” He gave him an intense but amused look.

“He mentioned your arrangement, that nothing is...exclusive between you.” Xander shifted slightly, pushing his salad away and lent on his arms.

“Okay lay it out for me, Alex, what does it mean with you and miss happy?” He asked looking curious. “How is this...casual thing going to work for you?”

“It will probably be a little hard to control at first, I’m possessive and protective of what I consider mine, more so when she’s marked them as pack.” He shrugged. “No biting of the neck, that’s mate territory, which means no one else and she’ll get territorial.”

“can you control that, say if we share you?” Speed raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, it’s everyone else she’ll have a problem with.” Xander nodded. “I’ll probably have a rough week or two but she’ll settle down after that once we both get used to it.” He rubbed a hand over his cheek. “But we can both take no as an answer and that won’t affect your place in the pack, you’ll just become brother instead of potential mate.” He eyed Speed for a moment. “You are taking this a lot more calmly then I thought and by what Rio implied.”

“What did he say that I would do?” Speed raised an eyebrow.

“That you would be flattered, and go away to consider it.”

“And I will.” Speed nodded. “Doesn’t mean that I won’t hear you out first. I need to know what I’m going to be getting into.” He ate a few more bites of his lunch. “Anything else that is a no go, with you?”

“Occasionally I need to be in control, if I’m with a guy, which I’ll admit is rare, I get around that by riding them.” He shrugged.

“You’re a bottom?” Speed looked amused.

“I don’t mind topping, but I find it’s much easier to control myself and her when I don’t top. She maybe alpha but I’m not.” He gave a wry smile. “Don’t get me wrong I can be alpha and a very good alpha at that, it’s just that I...”

“I get the idea.” Speed raised a hand, smiling at Xander flushed cheeks. “You prefer not to. It won’t surprise you to know that H is pure top, it’s very rare that he lets go of the reins, me, I switch all the time, I get the best of both.” He sipped at his water. “So no biting, what about being held down or tied up?”

“Don’t mind it.” Xander shrugged. “Providing I know who and that I can get free.”

“Fair enough.” Speed nodded, watching him carefully as he finally started to eat his lunch. “Give me a week, but if you need an ear besides H, I’ll listen even before I make a decision.” Speed said as he capped his water and pushed his salad aside. “After too.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Xander smiled faintly.

“One thing, Xan. Don’t tell anyone, nothing changes outside.” Speed warned as he stood up, tossing down his share of the bill.

“Understood.” Xander nodded. “Same again next week?”

“Yeah but it might have to be after work.” Speed nodded grimacing a little before giving his a little salute and headed out.

Xander picked at his food for a little longer before he paid the rest of the bill and headed out, stopping for gas, changed his helmet back to his frequency and plugged his cell into it, before settling in for a long ride.

  


**

  


Xander returned home in the late afternoon, pulled out a blank journal and began to write. He decided that both of them needed to know how to deal with him and his hyena if she ever came out inspect them, what they could expect and what they should and shouldn’t do. He also added in some of the reactions he’d had sleeping in someone else’s bed and what precautions they should take so they didn’t get pounced before he was awake.

When he was done he slid it into an envelope and put Rio’s name on it, left it on the table where he would find it, left everything on the table and went out to side down on the beach watching the waves, letting them help clear his mind so he could have a long think.

  


**

  


  


He came back into focus as he sensed Rio sit down beside him, taking in the last rays of the sun on the ocean.

“That was very interesting reading, Alex.” Rio commented softly.

“You needed to know either way, both of you.” He shrugged, glancing at Rio as he stared out over the ocean. “You might need to know how to talk me down, or how to get her to back down if she comes out for any reason.”

“True, why not just tell me?” he asked looking over, pulling off his sun glasses.

“It was easier to say on paper, I can be detached on paper, I don’t have to explain it in detail.” He sighed. “I can’t be that detailed verbally, I can’t explain it in words, it’s hard enough to describe on paper let alone verbally.”

“I’ll let Speed see it and then burn it. It could be dangerous in the wrong hands.” 

“Probably a good idea.” Xander nodded slowly.

“How did your talk with Speed go?”

“Well he listened, asked a few questions, then said to give him a week to think about it.” Xander shrugged. “That’s good enough for me.” He looked back out to the darkening sky. “I’m going to be working at the houses for the rest of week, getting them ready for repairs. How long until hurricane season is over?”

“A few more weeks officially, but we very rarely get a hurricane this late in the season, not to say that it won’t happen though.” Rio replied easily. “Did Speed tell you about the other rules?”

“Yeah, other’s don’t know, and nothing changes outside.” He nodded. “Fair enough considering what you do, even if the policy is towards tolerance, I doubt that would stop some from trying and not all states or precincts have the policy.”

“We do, but it doesn’t stop some.” Rio nodded. “MDPD is half, half, half intolerant, half tolerant. Each year there is a few less intolerant officers, having transferred out either willingly or forced to. Whether it is because they were intolerant of gays or those from another culture, the latter don’t last long here.” He smiled faintly. “Over fifty percent of the officers aren’t white, and believe me they don’t suffer fools, and about half of those are either gay or bi.”

“I like bi, you get the best of both sides.” Xander shrugged. “But no one said that humans had to be smart and there is never an excuse for pure stupidity. Which covers about...oh I guess at least twenty percent of the population.”

“True. Then again some people like their black and white views and the little box of reality that they live in.” Rio pointed out with a small smile.

“Oh, to be that naive again.” Xander sighed shaking his head with a small amused chuckle. He slowly rose to his feet, helping Rio get to his. “And what about you? You going to think it over for a few weeks?”

“A few days at the very least.” Rio nodded. “I admit that I am not sure how it will change our current relationship, of friend, and confidant.” They slowly made their way back to the house. “I’m not sure if I could keep those separate, or if you would still be comfortable in still telling me things.” He turned to lean against the railing when they reached the patio. “You might not think that it will change, but it will.”

“I know.” Xander nodded, leaning next to him. “I’ve seen it happen, with not so pretty results as an ending.” He sighed. “Whether I talk to someone or not, I always write in my journals, I could always do what I do now when I can’t verbalise something.”

“Hand me your journal to read and then talk about it?” Rio tilted his head. “You won’t edit?”

“I swore I never would when writing something that I needed to get out, and I haven’t yet.” Xander pointed out. “Even when you wished I had.”

“Very true.” Rio nodded. “I’ll let you know in a few days.” He nudged Xander’s shoulder. “What do you want for dinner?” He chuckled as Xander’s stomach gurgled it’s agreement that it was time for food. “Didn’t eat?”

“I had an early lunch with Speed, and then got distracted.” He shrugged looking a little sheepish. “Do we even have proper food in the house?”

“Let’s find out.” Rio suggested as they headed in for the kitchen and opened the fridge and pulled out a casserole dish, pulling a note off the lid. “Looks like Speed snuck in while you were out at the beach, he left us Beef Strog.”

“Sounds good.” Xander turned and turned on the oven. “How high?”

“One eighty for twenty minutes to reheat, stirring once in awhile.” Rio slid the dish into the oven when Xander opened the door. “Are you going to head out tonight or stay in?” Rio asked as he pulled down plates and Xander got the cutlery.

“I might go bounce on the dance floor for awhile, depending on how long I’m out for I might head straight to one of the houses to start writing out lists of things that I’ll need.” Xander considered it. “Yeah I might go out for awhile.”

“Alright, I’m heading out myself tonight, so don’t worry if I’m not back before you.” Rio nodded.

“I think I’ll grab a quick shower before dinner, that way you can hog it after.” Xander gave him a cheeky grin before hurrying out of the kitchen and Rio’s amused snort followed him.

  


**

  


  


Xander looked up from where he was making notes in the smaller house as someone knocked on his door. He set the note book down and headed for the front door, which was propped open.

“Yes?”

“Mr Harris?” The young man asked looking at his clip board.

“That’s me.” Xander nodded.

“Delivery from Cleveland, please sign here?” Xander took the board and signed where it was marked. “Where do you want us to stick it?”

“Front room please.” He let the man in to look at where he was going to be putting things and then left, returning with a large box on a trolley and three other men with him, all with their own trolley’s. 

He was curious at what was in them and wondering if it was really Giles who had sent them. He slit the first box open and peeked inside and grinned. It was his work tools, he wouldn’t have to buy new all over again.

When the delivery men were gone he had a room full of boxes, twenty three in all. He scanned them for magical residue before opening each box to see what was inside, he knew that he didn’t have that many tools, so he tried to find out what else had been sent.

He pulled out his tools as he found them to see if he needed to replace anything. He found two boxes of old clothes, which he would go through later and give most of them to a second hand clothes shop. Nine boxes were tools, two of clothes, four boxes of knick knacks from his apartment, five boxes of books and comics and three of old kitchen things.

He left everything else packed after picking through them until he had all his tools, and stacked the other boxes out of the way.

That done, he went back to taking notes of things he needed to buy from the hardware store, after crossing off tools from the list. Then he went shopping.

  


**

  


By Monday midmorning Xander had all the supplies delivered to the smaller of the two houses and had cleared and prepped the roof ready to be replaced.

By Tuesday afternoon he had replaced the beams, plaster and rerun the wiring in the roof in the damaged area, and was in the middle of checking it all, ready to re-tile the area.

“Alex?” 

Xander looked over the side of the roof when he heard his name called faintly.

“Outback.” He yelled, double checking the wall that had been damaged to make sure that he didn’t have to replace it before he finished off the roof. He looked down again when he heard footsteps and frowned, a little to see Rio with a few police officers with him. “Horatio.” He waited until he had located him and inclined his head, he could see that Rio was tense and was not happy about something. “What’s going on?” He secured his tools and climbed down the ladder.

“I need you to come to the station with all your ID.” Horatio asked calmly. “At the moment that is all I can tell you.” He glanced around the backyard. “Do you have all that here?”

“Yeah, I needed it yesterday, when I put some paperwork in.” Xander nodded, headed inside, easing his tool belt off. “Can you lock that please?” He asked the last officer in, watching as it was locked, then grabbed a satchel bag from the pantry in the kitchen, made sure it had everything that was needed, his keys, cell, pager, grabbed his jacket and gestured for them that he was ready to go.

He locked the front door, made sure the garage was closed and slid into the back of the police car, while Horatio climbed into his hummer and followed them in.

He followed the officers once they were at the station and was a little surprised that he was lead into the Chief’s office. He waited until the door was closed behind him, staring at the two men who were already in the room. Horatio was standing nearby, fiddling with his glasses.

“May I ask what is going on?” Xander asked politely. 

“What were you told?” The younger second man asked sneering.

“Just that I was being asked to come to the station, and to bring my ID.” He locked eyes with the man his face bland and turned to look at the older man when the first looked away.

“You are Alexander Harris?” The older man asked, looking faintly surprised and threw a look at the other man.

“I am.” Xander nodded.

“Very well, this is Rick Stetler of the IAB, I’m the Chief of the police, Sergeant Stetler brought to me evidence that Lt Caine here was in a underage relationship, and the underage teenager...” He glanced at Xander with a raised eyebrow. “Supposedly you, and that he was forcing you to stay at his house and blackmailing you.”

Xander couldn’t help himself but burst out laughing. “I’m sorry, sir but that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Especially about Horatio Caine. As for being underage, well that was quite a few years back. Am I staying at the Lt’s house, yes, until I can fix up my own that I bought last week. Blackmailing, no, he is an old friend, relationship? No, only that of friends.” He shook his head. “May I ask what evidence he has?”

“A birth certificate, and some photos.”

“May I see the birth certificate?” Xander requested, and took the offered sheet of paper, snorted and handed it back. “Sorry not Florida born, that’s not mine.”

“You aren’t from here?” The chief set the birth certificate back in the file.

“No sir, I’ve only been in Miami a few weeks.” Xander shook his head, opening his bag and handing a file and a wallet to the man. “That is me.” He watched as he went through the file piece by piece and then froze when he opened the wallet.

“You are an old friend of Lt Caine’s, how did you meet?” He asked slowly, setting the wallet aside.

“He was undercover looking for a serial killer about eight years ago.” He stopped when the chief raised his hand.

“I know the case.” He flipped open another file and looked at the photos again. “Sergeant where did you get these photos?” He asked blandly.

“Took them last week.” Stetler glared at Xander.

“I’ll ask again and this time, don’t lie to me.” The Chief glared at him. “Remember that you are already on probation, for wrong conclusions, harassment and falsifying reports. So I ask again where did you get these photos?” Stetler said nothing. “These photos are from a classified case, Stetler and one that was sealed, far above your clearance, just having them is a jail term.” Stetler’s face paled but said nothing. “Mr Harris how old are you in those photos?”

“Eighteen, post graduation vacation.” Xander replied with a small shrug.

“Very well, I consider this matter closed.” He handed the file and the wallet back to Xander. “Lt Caine, Mr Harris you may go, Sergeant Stetler stay.” He said firmly.

Xander followed Horatio out and back to the lobby.

“Stetler really doesn’t like you, does he.” Xander stated shaking his head.

“He never could get that I was not my brother.” Horatio shrugged. “It was his delusion, we all put up with it.” He tilted his head. “What was in the wallet that shocked the Chief, Alex?”

Xander studied him for a moment and then handed him the wallet and watched as he flipped it open. “While I may not be in the field at the moment those are still valid until I tell Giles that I fully retire.”

“Homeland Security?” Horatio met his eyes.

“It makes it easier when we have to deal with the police during hunts.” Xander shrugged. “Only travelling field agents get those...” He pulled a face. “Mainly me and a few others.”

“Interesting.” Horatio shook his head and handed it back to him. “So basically Stetler has once again run over another agency’s toes. He really knows how to pick them.”

“The question is, where did he get those photos, Rio.” Xander pointed out quietly as a group of officers went passed them. “Those files were classified and sealed.”

“They were. Stetler will either tell or someone will be investigating. Either way Stetler will be stripped of his badge and will more than likely spend a few years in jail for it.” Rio sighed.

“He brought it on himself, Rio.” He rested a hand on his shoulder. “Can I get a lift back to the house? I’ll buy you lunch.” He caught Eric hurrying towards them. “Though if you are very busy I’ll catch a cab.” He offered.

“H, the warrant came through.” Eric informed him, nodding at Xander.

“I’ll have to take a raincheck, Alex, Speed could run you home, he’s only in for half a day.” He pointed to the man heading toward them, obviously ready to leave.

“Sure.” Xander nodded smiling slightly. “Speed, can I grab a lift?” He called turning, leaving Horatio to talk to Eric.

“You’re here without your car?” Speed frowned, pausing just outside the door.

“Had to see the Chief about some things, with Horatio, got driven in.” Xander shrugged.

“Sure, where you been, no one has seen you since Friday night.” Speed asked as he headed for his bike.

“Working on one of the houses, kinda got distracted with the work.” He gave a sheepish smile. 

“Feel better now that you’re working again?” Speed grinned.

“Oh yeah.” Xander laughed. 

“What’s the address?”

“Remember the place Horatio got the warrant for and had to get the keys and proof from me? Body in the hidden basement?”

“That’s yours?” Speed turned on the bike to look at him, before handing him the spare helmet.

“Yep, I liked it, Horatio was sneaky. I bought it and then he asked if he could go through it.” He shook his head, securing his bag and pulled on the helmet. “Then handed me the warrant after I said yes.”

“He can get like that.” Speed’s voice came through the small speaker in the helmet.

Xander settled in behind Speed, and just enjoyed being driven. He didn’t say anything, just relaxed when Speed took the long way around to the house.

Speed pulled into his driveway and Xander got off, putting the helmet in its bag on the back of the bike.

“You want to go clubbing with me tonight?” Speed asked, pulling his visor up.

“Sure, I could go out.” Xander nodded. “Meet you there or you gonna pick me up?” He asked.

“I’ll pick you up at eight.” Speed smirked. “Here or at H’s?”

“Rio’s.” Xander shook his head. “All my gear is still there.”

“See you at eight.” He pulled out and headed off.

  


**

  


Xander came out of his room ready to go when he bumped into Rio.

“Sorry.” He apologised.

“It’s fine, you going out tonight?” He asked looking over Xander’s tight club clothing.

“Yeah, Speed offered to take me out clubbing.” Xander nodded, pulling on his jacket.

“Have fun.” Horatio smiled.

“I plan to.” Xander grinned, grabbing his keys and cell, waved and headed out the door as Speed pulled into the drive way.

He pulled on the helmet and held on, Speed drove them through the streets and pulled in at one of Xander’s favourite clubs.

They started out dancing separately for a few hours, before Xander felt hands on his hips, pulling him back into a body. He tensed at first until he recognised the smell and relaxed into Speed.

Their dancing left Xander panting for breath, his body aching for more, as the song ended Speed spun him around and crushed his lips to his, kissing him hard, hands holding his ass, pulling him tight to his body.

As the next throbbing song pulsed out of the speakers, Xander moaned into Speed’s mouth and opened himself up for Speed to taste him and devour him.

  


  


  


Chapter 10

  


  


Xander moaned as his back hit the front door, hands held near his head as Speed mapped his mouth with his tongue, before leaving him panting, as Speed kissed down his throat. He looked down at Speed, who looked up, his eyes burning with lust and passion, he groaned loudly that ended in a whimper when his nipple was bitten through is shirt then suckled.

Speed chuckled pulling back slowly, kissed him again and pulled him into his bedroom, yanking off clothing as they went.

  


**

  


Xander woke slowly, his body felt so relaxed that it was seriously hard to get it to obey his commands to move. He hummed softly as he finally manage to roll on to his side, taking stock of his body.

Very relaxed, his ass was a little sore but the left over throbbing was telling him that he definitely had a good night, memory, absent for the time being, little throbs from his chest. A quick glance to him that the reason he was aching was the bite marks on his chest, so apparently he had a very good night...Now if only he could remember it.

He slowly sat up and looked around the unfamiliar room, noting his clothes in a neat pile nearby with a note on top.

“Right, club, dancing...” He muttered to himself. “Didn’t drink though...Speed.” His eyes widened as the memory flooded through him and felt his cheeks heat with a mix of embarrassment and arousal. “Very good night.” He muttered shaking his head, picking up the note.

  


‘Xan, Sorry got called in. Shower, breakfast is in the fridge for you. We’ll talk later, hope you’re not too sore.  Didn’t want to wake you, I noticed you didn’t have your wallet on you so I left some money for a cab back to H’s. Later. Speed.’

  


“Right, shower...” He looked around the room, picking up his clothes and stepped out of the bathroom and found the bathroom. He took note of the bite marks on his skin as he washed, glad to note that Speed had remembered his warning and had not bitten him on the neck. He had a few bruises too. “Yep, good night.” He grinned to himself in the mirror and then chuckled at the ‘I got thoroughly fucked’ face he had.

He dressed, easily found the kitchen and followed the directions on his meal to reheat and quickly ate, grabbing the money on the counter and called for a cab. He felt a little odd being in Speed’s place without him being there.

He headed for Rio’s for a change of clothes and his wallet before he rode over to his first house, to finish off the roof.

  


**

  


Xander looked over the side of the roof as he finished sealing the last tile in place when he heard footsteps and waved at Horatio as he stepped out far enough to look up at him. He cleaned up the mess of tools on the roof before climbing down the ladder.

“Hey.” Xander gave him a smile before collapsing the ladder down and carried it inside before returning for the rest of his tools. “Busy day?”

“It was.” Horatio agreed, following him inside. “I’m guessing you had fun out last night as you didn’t come home.”

“I did.” He flushed a little, ducking his head. 

“Speed figured that it was a good night as he couldn’t get you to wake up when he had to leave.” Horatio gave him an amused smile. “You must have been well content.”

“It took me a little bit to remember where I was and why I was there, I was that content.” Xander grinned. “He working late?”

“He is.” Horatio nodded. “You coming home for dinner?”

“I was planning on it.” Xander nodded, finishing up putting his tools away after checking them, then studied Horatio for a moment. “You okay with this? I know you said that you two shared or weren’t exactly committed to each other, but you seem unsettled.” He tilted his head, watching as Horatio took off his sun glasses, fiddling with the ear pieces.

“I admit that I am somewhat unsettled, yes.” Horatio agreed slowly. “Not solely because of you and Speed, going out for a night of fun.” He hesitated for a moment, “I’m not even sure why, not completely.”

Xander stood, studying him and nodded slowly. “So, dinner?” Xander offered, letting Horatio set the subject if he wished. “We can talk then if you want.”

“I think that might be an idea.” Horatio nodded, sliding his glasses back into place. “I need to figure this out, and you always were good at reading people, knowing some things that even they didn’t realise.”

“We can do that.” Xander nodded, grabbing his back pack and locked up the house. “Take away? Or shall I raid the fridge and see what we can pull together?” He asked settling on his bike.

“I already ordered.” Horatio smiled slightly, before climbing into his hummer and they headed to his place.

  


**

  


Once they were home, Xander showered and changed in to a pair of sweat pants and singlet, before joining Horatio in the lounge room where he had placed the take away that had arrived while he had been in the shower.

“Are you ready?” Xander asked after they had eaten in silence for a few minutes. He watched Rio out of the corner of his eye as he nodded slowly. “Alright, how long have you and Speed been seeing each other on and off?” He asked.

“Two years.” Horatio replied, not really pausing to think about it.

“And you always come back to each other, when there isn’t someone else in the picture?” Xander asked, picking at his noodles.

“Yes.”

“Do you see other people to throw others off, from getting too close to seeing that you too are seeing each other?” 

“No, that just happens after a little while.” Horatio shook his head. “I’m not really sure who started it but, it didn’t bother me at the time.”

“But it’s beginning to.” Xander stated and watched as Rio paused, fork hanging over his food as he thought about it and then slowly nodded. “When was the last time you dated someone else?”

“Three months. A few weeks before Speed got shot on the job.” Horatio replied.

Xander watched him for a moment. “And him?”

“Two months ago, was the last time I heard about him going out with someone else. They broke up just after he got shot.” Horatio replied after thinking about it.

“It sounds like either you are both on a dry spell or you have accepted it.” Xander paused to take another bite. “You’ve become protective of Speed since his accident, which is understandable. It could just be that you are ready to settle down with one or two people, your choice, or it could be that your subconscious decided to stop hiding from something and are ready to do the same. Sometimes it can take you without you realising it.” He smiled faintly. “It happened to me, with you two.”

“I can accept that.” Horatio nodded, still eating.

“It could have been that you were both hiding in plain sight, even from yourselves before and now whatever was holding you back is gone.” Xander shrugged. “Enjoy it, discussing it with him, let him know that you would like to change the rules that you had before and enjoy it.”

“You think so?” Horatio gave him an amused look.

“Hey why get upset over a good thing? You and Speed are good together, you already watch each other’s backs and protect the others, you can speak without words and you already know each other pretty well. I say it is a good thing.” Xander pointed out, pointing at him with his fork.

“And what about you?” Horatio raised an eyebrow.

“What about me?” Xander asked bluntly. “I’m the new factor, either I get to see you both or I don’t, not really going to bother me all that much, I’ll find someone else in time.” He shrugged.

“To be honest I think we’d both like for you to stick around, he likes you, I like you, so I think it might work out.” Horatio set his fork aside and leaned back into the couch. “I’m a little worried that you might start to feel left out.”

“Maybe, maybe not. There is no way to predict how any of this is going to go, now or later.” Xander shrugged it off. “I’m just going to enjoy what I’ve got, while I’ve got it and see how it goes.” He closed up his take away container and settled back into the couch. “We both know how fast things can change in this world and how little warning one would get.”

“True, then we will see how things go.” Horatio nodded in agreement. “Speed agrees with you, we had a chance to talk on the way to a scene.”

“Does he know that you are planning on changing the rules?” Xander asked tilting his head.

“No, I don’t think so.” Horatio shook his head. “But he did say that he would join us here when he finished up.”

“I was wondering why there were a few extra containers.” Xander smiled. 

“Now you know.” Horatio chuckled, then slowly leaned towards Xander and caught his lips in a soft gentle kiss.

Xander blinked a little in surprise at first then, shifted a little closer and opened his mouth, and moaned deeply as Horatio mapped his mouth with his tongue. He shifted when Horatio’s hands tugged and pulled him closer until he was sitting in the man’s lap, his arms wrapped around the older man’s neck.

He pulled back a bit when Horatio eased his tight grip around him, resting his forehead against his for a moment. 

“You remember that you once called me, the citizen solider and I found a song for it, so you knew that it was me contacting you?” Xander asked softly, pulling back so he could look the man in the eye easier.

“Yes, I do.” He smiled, remembering the song.

“I know a song that suits the questions you have right now.” He eased himself off Horatio’s lap and headed to his room and quickly found the CD he was looking for and returned to the lounge room and put it in the player. “I think this song is quite suited to your moment.” He picked the right track and let it play.

  


  


My best friend gave me the best advice

He said each day's a gift and not a given right

Leave no stone unturned, leave your fears behind

And try to take the path less traveled by

That first step you take is the longest stride

  


If today was your last day

And tomorrow was too late

Could you say goodbye to yesterday?

Would you live each moment like your last?

Leave old pictures in the past

Donate every dime you have?

If today was your last day

  


Against the grain should be a way of life

What's worth the prize is always worth the fight

Every second counts 'cause there's no second try

So live like you'll never live it twice

Don't take the free ride in your own life

  


If today was your last day

And tomorrow was too late

Could you say goodbye to yesterday?

Would you live each moment like your last?

Leave old pictures in the past

Donate every dime you have?

Would you call old friends you never see?

Reminisce of memories

Would you forgive your enemies?

Would you find that one you're dreamin' of?

Swear up and down to God above

That you finally fall in love

If today was your last day

  


If today was your last day

Would you make your mark by mending a broken heart?

You know it's never too late to shoot for the stars

Regardless of who you are

So do whatever it takes

'Cause you can't rewind a moment in this life

Let nothin' stand in your way

Cause the hands of time are never on your side

  


If today was your last day

And tomorrow was too late

Could you say goodbye to yesterday?

  


Would you live each moment like your last?

Leave old pictures in the past

Donate every dime you have?

Would you call old friends you never see?

Reminisce of memories

Would you forgive your enemies?

Would you find that one you're dreamin' of?

Swear up and down to God above

That you finally fall in love

If today was your last day

Song: If today was your last day by Nickelback

  


  


Xander listened to the song, lost in his own memories that the song pulled up and turned the CD to a new track once the song had finished and paused it.

“Don’t you think?” Xander asked tilting his head, locking eyes with Horatio.

“I do.” He nodded slowly.

“I know I do.” They both looked towards the entry way to see Speed watching them with a thoughtful look on his face. “I think it answered a lot of questions, and I like it as I have been in that situation.”

“You have.” Xander agreed.

“You have another one you want to share?” Speed asked looking at the player as he took a seat next to Horatio.

“It reflects my state of mind before and after I got here.” He nodded slowly. “To be honest I’m not so sure if I’m not still in that state, not as fully as I was before...” He hit play and smiled slightly as he was pulled in to sit between the two men.

  


  


  


Falling inside the black

  


  


  


Tonight I'm so alone 

This sorrow takes ahold 

Don't leave me here so cold 

Never want to be so cold 

  


Your touch used to be so kind 

Your touch used to give me life 

I've waited all this time, I've wasted so much time 

  


Don't leave me alone 

Cause I barely see at all 

Don't leave me alone, I'm 

  


Chorus: 

Falling in the black 

Slipping through the cracks 

Falling to the depths can I ever go back 

  


Dreaming of the way it used to be 

Can you hear me 

Falling in the black 

Slipping through the cracks 

Falling to the depths can I ever go back 

Falling inside the black 

Falling inside falling inside the black 

  


You were my source of strength 

I've traded everything 

That I love for this one thing 

Stranded in the offering 

Don't leave me here like this 

Can't hear me scream from the abyss 

And now I wish for you my desire 

  


Don't leave me alone cause I barely see at all

  


  


  


  


“Xander?” Horatio asked softly, concern written all over his face.

“I don’t know, all I knew was once I was on the road was that I had to get to you and that it would be a lot worse if I didn’t.” Xander whispered, leaning his head against Speed’s shoulder. 

“You needed someone to hold you away from the edge.” Speed stated, wrapping an arm around Xander’s shoulders.

“I still do, you two have become that rope. I may appear to be good, but I still have to fight a life time of habits.” Xander nodded slightly.

“Hunting.” Horatio stared at him. 

“Hunting, fighting, revelling in the rush and the freedom of movement.” He sighed. “I think that is partly why I dance so often, it’s partly the same thing, but I still have to fight not to hunt.”

“Have you been?” Speed asked, running a hand through his hair.

“A few times, enough to take out some of the more dangerous demons in town, and enough for them to know that I am in town.” Xander stared at his hands, picking at his nails.

“You’re the White Knight that sent ripples through the crime underground.” Horatio blinked as it clicked. “You told me about the White Knight the night you arrived here...it never clicked they were talking about you.”

“Most people don’t even know what I look like, just that if they piss me off they can’t hide for long.” Xander shrugged.

“Eric warned us, last week when we had the gathering here.” Speed shook his head. “No one knew who it was...”

“Now you do.” Xander raised his head to look them both in the eye. “You both have heard my tales of things I’ve done over the years, but I don’t think that it ever sunk in that it was me and how dangerous I can get when provoked.” He lowered his eyes again. “I don’t think I ever want you two to see me sink that far in to what I call the protector mode.”

“Even H, has that, Xander and he can get damn scary once he has been provoked. We all can, half the criminals in Miami know not to piss of the red head, or if they do then to leave fast and hope to all hell that he doesn’t catch up with them.” Speed kissed his temple. “We all have a temper and we all have a breaking point.” He pointed out. 

“We might not know the full extent of your adventures, Xander, or how good a fighter you are, but we...” He looked at Speed who nodded. “Will be here for you, no matter what. I think we both agree that we have you now and we aren’t going to give you back.” He chuckled and watched as Xander shivered at the slightly evil sound. “You are ours now.”

“Definitely ours, and we are both possessive and protective.” Speed agreed with a deep mischievous chuckle, before kissing him deeply.

Xander moaned into the kiss, panting hard when he was released by Speed only to be pulled into a deep possessive kiss from Horatio.

“I think this will be better conducted somewhere with a little more room.” Horatio said calmly after releasing him. “Speed, locked the door, we’re moving to my room.” He hauled Xander up and pulled him to his own bedroom, with Speed a few steps behind, chuckling at the dazed look on Xander’s face.

  


  


  


  


Chapter 11

  


Xander woke feeling well content, safe and warm. He slowly cracked an eye open and realised that his pillow was actually a chest. A chest with a light covering of red hair. He sighed happily as the memories of the night before flickered through his mind, which also explained some of his aching muscles. 

He frowned a little as he wondered what had woken him, he shifted and felt the arm around his waist tighten its grip and pulled him a little tighter against the body behind him. 

‘Right, Rio is my pillow and I am Speed’s teddy.’ He snickered mentally to himself. He lifted his head as he heard the muffled sound of a phone ringing. He tilted his head as he listened trying to figure out who’s it was. “Rio.” He shook the man’s shoulder, agreeing with the faint moan of protest at being woken. “Rio, your cell is ringing.” He nudged the man again.

“Damn.” Horatio mumbled dragging his eyes open and slid out of bed, searching his pants for his cell. “Caine.” He mumbled as he answered it.

Xander took the opportunity to slip out of bed and use the bathroom before returning and slid back into bed, cuddling up with Speed who was still asleep, and automatically wrapped his arms around Xander.

Xander could hear Horatio outside the closed bedroom door talking to someone and glanced at the clock.

“Wha tim?” Speed asked in a sleep slurred voice.

“Four am, go back to sleep.” Xander murmured, laying his head back down on the pillow, smiling as Speed pulled him back a little closer against his body, muttering intelligently under his breath before slipping back into sleep. He started to doze when Horatio finally stepped back into the room and slid back into bed, sticking his cell on the bedside table. Xander lifted his head, giving him a sleepy smile and held out an arm for him to slide back into his side.

Xander gave a happy sigh as he settled back down on Horatio’s chest, stroking his side when he felt the tension in him, soothing him back to sleep and dropped back into sleep himself once he was sure that they were both deeply asleep.

  


**

  


Xander woke again when the body next to him shifted and the bed moved, signalling that someone had just climbed out of the bed. He slowly pulled himself out of the realm of sleep and watched lazily as Horatio slipped into the bathroom to clean up.

He just laid there enjoying not immediately bouncing out of bed. He watched as Horatio came out, wrapped in a towel and dressed. He squeezed Speed’s arm when he hugged him tighter for a moment and then let him go before climbing out of bed and claimed the bathroom.

He crawled out of bed after Horatio left the room and pulled on his clothes from the night before, deciding he could claim the shower himself after they had headed off to work.

He joined Horatio in the kitchen, pulling down mugs for the morning coffee, while he pulled out plates and bowls for their breakfast choices. He smiled when Horatio gave him a quick kiss, as he moved around him. He caught Horatio’s hips and pulled him in for a proper kiss before releasing him, do the same when Speed showed up.

“You’re working on the three bedroom still?” Horatio asked, pouring out the coffee as Xander fixed himself a bowl of cereal.

“Yeah, only got the roof fixed, still got the kitchen and the hole in the wall to fix.” Xander nodded, accepting his cup. “I’m thinking about just fixing it up and then reselling it, still thinking about it.”

“I know one thing that has to change.” Speed said with a wince as he stretched out his back. “We gotta get a bigger bed if all three of us are going to be sleeping in there regularly.”

“Yeah, I can agree on that one.” Xander nodded. “Don’t get me wrong I love to be cuddled but I nearly got squished a few times.”

“I need a new one anyway.” Horatio shrugged sipping on his coffee waiting for his turn with the toaster. “What needs to be fixed up at the other place?”

“Back porch, a few roof leaks, might redo the kitchen and got to find the basement entrance, I want to see what condition it is in.” He ate a few bites. “I’m going to use that one to move into, less to repair on it and it has more room.” He saw the looks the other two exchanged. “I thought it would be good to prevent rumours. Thought depending on the size of the basement, I could convert it into a nice safe, private bedroom.”

“I don’t think that we need to go that extreme.” Speed shook his head. “Yes there are nosy people out there but we do have a tolerance policy at the station, we can sue for intolerance, harassment and anything that happens because of something happening because others didn’t like who we are sleeping with.” Speed pointed out.

“They can still fire you and bring down the lab with you.” Xander shrugged.

“A third of the station is gay Xander and they don’t put up with that bullshit and won’t let anyone else put up with it either.” Horatio assured him. “Besides we’ve had gay and lesbian workers in the lab before and when people tried shit we stopped it. It won’t happen.”

“It will, because it doesn’t matter where you are it does.” Xander sighed. “I’ll leave it up to you two how you want to play it, but there must have been a reason you two hadn’t come out before.”

“There really wasn’t someone we were willing to risk it for.” Speed shrugged. “Not even when we first started dating, didn’t really think that it would last this long.” He studied Xander. “We can keep it quiet if it makes you uncomfortable.”

“It doesn’t make me uncomfortable, I just don’t want you to get the usual crap from your department.” Xander sighed.

“We understand that Xander, I think we’ll just let people find out as they realise that something has changed.” Horatio dropped some toast in to the toaster and gave him a hug. “Either way I’m going to have to retire in the next fifteen years or so, if they do fire me I can always go private PI or something to keep myself busy, but I really don’t think that will happen.”

“As long as you are sure.” Xander sighed, leaning into the hug.

“We are.” Speed assured him, moving forward to give him a kiss.

They all sighed as two of the cell phones beeped and Speed and Horatio checked them.

“Early call out, so much for breakfast.” Horatio snapped his phone shut. “Think you could go bed shopping while we are at work, during a break from working on the house?” He asked as he popped his toast out of the toaster and quickly ate a slice and gulping his coffee. 

“Do we all like the firmness of Rio’s or do we want something softer?” Xander asked, nodding.

“I like it.” Speed replied gulping his own coffee, grabbing his things, while Horatio pulled on his suite jacket and fixed his gun on his belt.

“Then I will do that, can I steal the old one for one of my spare rooms?” He asked, as they made sure they had everything.

“You can.” Horatio nodded, “Make sure you get new sheets and things too, as the ones we have now aren’t going to fit a larger bed.”

“Will do, stay safe.” Xander nodded, watching them leave. He smiled slightly and went to clean up the kitchen, measured the bed, adding on how much bigger it needed to be and tucked the note into his pocket, grabbed his work gear, locked up the house and headed off.

  


**

  


Xander put down the piece of wood he was carving to answer his cell.

“Harris” He listened for a moment and a small smile flickered over his lips. “What are you doing down this end of the country?” He asked spinning the knife in his hand as he listened. “Yeah it can get that way here, it really calmed down after I arrived.” He chuckled. “Sure I can meet you there, take me about half an hour, you mind if I bring some people to watch and then hit the clubs with after?” He listened for a few moments and nodded before hanging up.

He tidied up the mess he had been making before walking inside to find Horatio and Speed talking over their after dinner coffees.

“What’s up?” Horatio asked looking up.

“Wanted to know if you two wanted to come out for awhile. A friend is in town and is bored, I thought you might want to see how well I can protect myself and then hit the clubs afterwards.” He asked, pulling off his baggy over shirt.

“I would like to know how well you can defend yourself, but clubs really aren’t my scene.” Horatio nodded.

“I can go with him.” Speed offered.

“Then change, I’ll take my truck and Rio can drive it back and we can go clubbing on Speed’s bike.” Xander nodded heading for his room to change into tight fitting jeans but ones he knew he could fight in. He changed tops, pulled on his leather jacket, slipping in his collapsible staff, cell, keys and wallet and headed out.

Speed followed him on the bike as they drove through to a small abandoned area and parked.

“Stay here, you’ll get a good view, but don’t interrupt, it might look...hostile and very deadly but he’s an old friend and bored out of his mind.” He gave them both a serious look. “Just stay out of the way, we used to be sparring partners and it does get heated.”

“Hence the clubbing afterwards?” Speed raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah.” Xander nodded.

“Couldn’t we just head home and fall into bed?” Speed suggested.

“It’ll take me hours to wind down after this.” Xander grinned.

“If you are still bouncing afterwards you can go clubbing.” Horatio pointed out with an amused look.

“Sure, fine with me.” Xander shrugged and headed out to a flat area looking around. “Getting bored Spike,” He called out, pulling out his staff and extending it.

“Still impatient I see whelp.” Spike seemed to phase in out of the shadows. Twirling his own staff in his hands. “What’s a bloke gotta do to get some fun around here?” He complained.

“They all jumped ship when they heard I was in town.” Xander grinned as they began circling each other. “So why you here?”

“I was in the area, heading back to base, Giles asked me to check in on you.” He shrugged, before the collided, moving fast, countering each other’s moves. “He wanted to know if you were going to retire, or come back.” Spike added when they pulled apart to circle each other again.

“Retiring thanks. I told him that in an email last week.” Xander pointed out, dodging out of the way as Spike leapt at him, spun and hit him in the back of the knee making him stumble. “I like it here.”

“Good, I’ll let him know that I heard it from you own mouth.” He pulled a few more hits, spinning out of the way after Xander grunted when he landed a hit in the boys ribs.

They moved faster, spinning, ducking, kicking out, a few hard punches thrown in, only calling a stop when Spike’s staff broke. They were both breathing hard, dripping sweat and bruised and split lips.

“Thanks for the fun, whelp, glad to see you are still in shape.” He saluted and phased back into the shadows once more.

“Welcome, Spike.” Xander shook his head with an amused snort, turning to return to his lover’s sides. 

“Impressive, are you alright?” Horatio noted looking him over.

“Yeah, fine, a few bruises that will clear up in a few days and completely wired.” He grinned, licking at his split lip.

“Let’s see if we can’t wear some of that out for you.” Speed shook his head, climbing back onto his bike. “Wanna ride?”

“Yep.” Xander nodded, grabbing his helmet out of the back of the truck handing the keys to Horatio, giving him a deep hard kiss. “See ya soon.” He smirked before climbing on the back of the bike and moulded himself to Speed’s back.

  


**

  


Xander moaned as he was quickly stripped of his clothes, kissed, licked and nipped by his older lovers as soon as they had stumbled into Rio’s bedroom. He swore and pleaded as he was worked up to a fever pitch but denied release. He whimpered as Speed prepared him and Rio held him in place, kissing him deeply, nipping at his nipples, until they ached.

He keened when he was finally filled by Speed and rode hard, he held tight to Rio, panting and moaning between kisses.

“Please.” He begged thrusting up to meet Speed’s hard and fast thrusts that ran right over his prostate.

“Soon, Alex.” Rio promised panting softly in his ear, kissing his throat, listening to the moans being pulled from Speed’s throat when his rhythm faltered before slamming into Alex hard and cried out wordlessly as he emptied himself into the younger man. He helped Speed move to lay beside Alex and took his place, setting up a slightly gentler pace, but just as powerful.

“God, Rio, please...” Xander moaned, panting hard, drenched in sweat, his hands running over Speed’s body, his body trembling, close to convulsing.

His mouth was covered by Speed to swallow his scream as his body locked up for a moment and then convulsed as his seed splashed over his stomach and Rio came with a deep moan pulled from deep within his chest.

He eased himself out of Xander, and laid on his other side, still panting hard for breath, letting Xander, hold him as they calmed and slipped into a doze.

  


**

  


Xander woke a few hours later, feeling pleasantly sore after the three rounds that his lovers had given him before falling into an exhausted sleep. He sighed softly feeling the energy brimming just under the surface. He raised his head off Speed’s chest to glance at the clock. Near midnight.

There was no way his body was going to let him sleep now. He carefully slid out of the bed and down to the second bathroom to grab a shower and redressed in clubbing clothes.

He made sure that he had his cell, pager, some cash and keys before leaving a note on the fridge and headed out after grabbing his helmet.

He drove around for a little while before he settled on a club, paid the cover and slipped into the dancing crowed with ease.

He knew when it was after two as the music changed to heavier based music, that throbbed through the club and people.

He left the club when it closed down at seven and headed home. 

He wasn’t that surprised that Rio and Speed were gone, they were more than likely called in for a early scene. He wondered through the kitchen finding the pot still warm and poured himself a cup before he spotted his note on the fridge with something added under it.

‘Got called in, meet for lunch? H & S’

He chuckled, sipping at his coffee and pulled out his cell, typing out a sms.

‘Lunch. When and where?’ and sent it to Speed. He finished his coffee and went for a long hot shower and changed into jeans and a button down shirt. He checked his wallet, putting his remaining cash back inside and slid it into his back pocket. He checked his cell and nodded at the text.

‘We’ll order it, SunHigh Cafe, noon, Already paid for. bring to lab. K?’

‘See you soon.’ He paused on sending it. ‘What name is it under?’ He glanced at the clock, it was just after nine, he had three hours until he had to be anywhere. He tilted his head thinking about it, he could go for a long drive or he could take a two hours nap. He considered taking the nap but he was still vibrating from the club.

He grabbed his truck keys and hit the mall.

After two hours of searching through all the bed shops he could find he finally found the bed he wanted, that was that same firmness as the one at home, and was a good dear large, there was plenty of room for all three of them. He paid for it, along with sheets and new quilt and cover and arranged to have it delivered after three pm. 

He spent half an hour window shopping, while trying to figuring out how to get the old bed out of Rio’s room and house and the new one in without exposing Rio’s home. He knew that Rio had pictures of himself and his family everywhere over the house and he didn’t want strangers in Rio’s house, considering all the enemies that he had made.

He chewed on his lip as he drove to the cafe and glanced at his cell, realising that Speed had never texted him back with the lunch order details.

He walked in and looked around and went up to the counter waiting behind a few other customers.

“How can I help you?” The guy behind the counter asked once it was his turn.

“I’m here for the lab lunch pick up.”

“Name?” He asked flicking through the receipts.

“Harris.”

The guy nodded and disappeared into the kitchen and returned with two boxes stacked on top of each other. Xander checked over the list that the guy handed him against what was in the box, he nodded noting that it said paid. He carried it out to his truck and drove over to the lab.

It took some doing but he managed to get the boxes inside and up to the reception desk.

“Can I help you?” The woman behind the desk asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Lunch deliver for the lab, I’m Harris, Speed asked me to pick it up.” He set it down on the counter, giving her a smile.

“Let me call.” She nodded, picking up her phone. “Speedle, it’s Maria at the front desk, Harris is here with lunch?” She listened nodding and hung up. “Please sign in.” She put a register book on the counter and Xander signed his name and waited.

“Hey.” He turned to see Eric heading towards him with a small smile. “Speed sent me to show you to the break room.”

“Great.” He picked up the boxes and followed him through a maze of corridors into a room and he set them down on the table, placing the boxes next together and began pulling out the cups. “Can’t guarantee that the drinks are still hot if they were ordered that way, it was already waiting when I picked them up.”

“We’ll find out, they should be here in a minute.” He shrugged. “So how are settling in? You’ve been here nearly a month.”

“Good, done the outside of that three bedroom place I bought.” He nodded, as he began pulling food out of the other box, before placing the empty boxes aside. “I start on the inside in a few days.” He grabbed his side and pulled out his pager and looked at the number, frowning.

“Problem?” Rio asked walking in seeing his look.

“I don’t know.” He looked up at Rio. “Can I use your office?”

“Of course, this way.”

Xander followed Rio up to his office and picked up the phone, gesturing for Rio to stay quiet as he dialled.

‘Finn’

“I thought it was your number, what do you want?” Xander asked sighing.

‘Harris.’ Finn sighed as well. ‘Can we talk? In person?’

“Where are you?” Xander stared at Rio, who was leaning against the door.

‘About to leave Cleveland. Aren’t you?’

“No I moved a few weeks ago, I’m in Miami. Come and find me when you get here.” He heard a few faintly murmured words.

‘I’ll be there in four hours.’ Finn muttered something to someone else. ‘Can you with meet me somewhere?’

“Yeah, call me when you land I’ll tell you where.” Xander agreed. 

‘Only have you pager number, it took me hours to get it out of Giles.’

“That will do.” Xander assured him. “Is this official?”

‘No, not official, Xander. I just want to talk.’ Finn assured him.

“Alright, talk to you later.” Xander nodded slightly and hung up.

“So problem?” Rio asked pushing away from the door.

“No, no problem, old friend.” Xander shook his head. “He just wants to catch up probably.” He shrugged. “I’ll find out in four hours.” He smiled slightly. “Sorry to sneak out earlier.”

“It’s fine, Xander.” Rio assured him with a small smile. 

“I...” He glanced out the window. “I got the new bed, it’s being delivered at three, I’m just not so sure about letting them in to get the old one out and the new one in.”

“It will be fine, if we have a problem we’ll know which company to start with. Just take note of the names.” 

“I can do that.” Xander nodded. “Your lunch is getting warm.”

“Speed ordered you a chicken burger.” Rio walked him back to the break room. He glanced around. “Calleigh and Ryan not coming?” He asked

“They grabbed their lunch said they’d eat it on the run.” Speed shrugged. “They got called to another case.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me if we get called to one soon.” Rio commented shaking his head.

“So eat while you can.” Xander gave him a pointed look as he grabbed the wrapped burger that Speed pointed to. “Where do you want to stash the old bed?” He asked quietly as he unwrapped his burger, and took a bite.

“In the garage for now, we can move it later.” Rio replied biting into his sandwich. “I heard that Rick got fired and picked up by the FBI yesterday.”

“Really?” Speed blinked. “What did he do this time?”

“Got his hands on Classified photos and showed them to the chief to try and discredit me.” Rio sighed.

“Ouch, with all the missteps he’s made lately I’m guessing the Chief wasn’t pleased with that.” Speed winced.

“Especially since I’m technically with Homeland Security.” Xander smirked.

“He got pictures from that op?” Speed’s eyes narrowed. “How?”

“That’s what the FBI is trying to find out.” Rio shrugged.

“No questions about my agency status?” Xander chuckled in amusement taking a large bite.

“Not really, you’re full of surprises.” Speed smirked.

“Why thank you.” Xander grinned after he swallowed. 

“Damnit.” Speed cursed as his cell beeped and glared at the display.

“Where did Eric go?” Xander asked looking around just noticing that the other man hadn’t been in the room when he’d returned.

“Had some things he had to check out.” Speed sighed as he quickly ate the rest of his sandwich, as Rio’s cell beeped. “Looks like we gotta run.”

“I’m impressed you got twenty minutes.” Xander waved it off as he wrapped the rest of his lunch. “You want take away or shall I dust off my cooking skills?”

“If you want to cook be our guest.” Rio smiled slightly as they packed up. Xander handed his visitors badge in and signed out. He waved when they parted ways.

When he got home he rummaged through the fridge looking for things he could make well and needed to make dinner. He ended up preparing things for a good beef stew that he knew that if he prepared right the meat would just fall apart.

  


**

  


Xander breathed a little easier when the bed arrived, and the old one was carried out and new one put into place without a problem, while he did take note of the men’s names he didn’t even seem to appear that they even glanced around once they were let in.

He replaced the bedside tables and made the bed and tossed last night’s sheets into the wash.

He was just reconsidering that nap when his pager went off. He sighed as he remembered the meeting. He grabbed his cell and called Finn back and gave him the address of his three bedroom house.

He was going over the plans he’d made for the kitchen when Riley Finn stepped into the house, knocking on the door as he did so.

“Hey, Riley.” He smiled in greeting. “Excuse the mess, I’m in mid repair.”

“Hey, Xander, it looks good, if a little battered.” He returned the smile hesitantly. “Giles said you were retiring.”

“Yeah, came here for vacation after I got injured, found I really liked it, decided to stay.” He shrugged. “Coffee? Soda?”

“Coffees fine.” 

Xander poured them both a cup. “So what brings you looking for me?”

“Well I heard rumours that you were injured so my boss asked me to talk to you, ask you about signing on with us. Not in full hunting but consulting and researching.” Riley offered as he sank down on the only other stool in the kitchen. “Be on call when strange stuff happens where ever you decided to land.”

“Well it would be here, and most of the bigger problem demons are already gone, but I guess they could just as easily come back.” Xander tilted his head thinking about it.

“You get a base salary of five hundred a month whether we call on you or not, you get an extra two hundred for each call in.” He smiled slightly. “And you get to keep the badge.”

“I must admit the badge is pretty good.” Xander smirked.

“And with the badge you have the easy licence to carry and carry concealed, without the normal civilian hassles you’d usually get.” Riley pointed out.

“True.” He nodded. “I only want to be called in as a last resort for hunts.” He warned. “And I do mean the very bottom of the list, as in you call in slayers first. I don’t mind doing the research, Giles sent me a copy of half the library when he sent my stuff, he’ll probably send the rest if I asked, once I finished up this place.”

“That’s fine.” Riley agreed pulling out a few sheets of paper stapled together. “This is the contract stating that, it’s a two year contract, after that you’d have to re-sign it.”

Xander read it over carefully, amused that it already stated that he was only to be called in as a last resort. “One last thing before I sign.” He looked Riley in the eye. “Is me being Bi, seeking out guys and sleeping with them going to be a problem?”

“As long as you don’t share any classified stuff we really don’t care.” Riley shrugged. “We do a dangerous job, you know that, and they know that. There is actually a clause in there at the end that states they can be sued for discrimination if they fire you for being gay or cause problems because of it. It’s new and but doing very well so far.” He pulled a face. “A lot of people aren’t happy about it but it was done in such a way that it can’t be written out of the contracts or our department even though we are under Homeland Security and the Government. Their main motto is be discreet but will help you if you get into trouble.”

“Cool” Xander read the last page and found the clause Riley had mentioned and signed it. “So how is Sam?”

“She’s good.” Riley grinned. “She’s visiting family at the moment.”

“Good.” Xander nodded handing him the contract back and pulled a page out of his note book and wrote a few things out. “Cell and pager, email.”

“What’s the last number?” Riley asked frowning.

“Last resort message if you can’t get a hold of me and I haven’t replied within six hours, or it’s an emergency and I don’t answer.” Xander looked him in the eye. “It’s to Lt Horatio Caine here in Miami. If he doesn’t know where I am he can get a hold of me. It’s to his cell, so keep it private.”

“Will do.” Riley nodded. “I gotta ask, what’s up with Willow? I heard she got arrested by the FBI, with Homeland’s blessing?”

“She hacked my bank account and stole a lot of money, she returned most of it, plus she’s been hacking other agencies without a reason, changing things, mucking around when she shouldn’t be.” Xander sighed. “Recently she hacked Miami to get my numbers, which didn’t make me happy. Giles only demanded I give him email and pager, so he could call me back for an emergency, she hacked their entire system and screwed it up for hours. During a serial hunt.”

“ouch.” Riley winced.

“Yeah so she’s off the sane line again, she’s in a lot of trouble this time and no one can fix it this time.” He shook his head sadly.

“They going to be able to keep her? I mean with the mojo and everything...”

“With the way she’s been going on, Giles told me a few days ago that he locked her magic away, in jail she’s not going to be allowed near electronics.” He shrugged. “I haven’t actually seen her in nearly two years, can’t exactly say that we were friends anymore.”

“Damn, I’m sorry to hear that, you guys used to be really close.”

“Some days we were, other days they liked to pretend that I didn’t exist.” He shrugged again, he glanced at his watch. “I gotta run, I got a stew cooking at a friend’s place.”

“That’s fine, this was a layover.” Riley nodded and Xander followed him out of the house, locking it back up. “If things get rowdy here, call.” He handed Xander a card. “I’ll get a team sent.”

“I’ll keep it in mind, but Miami isn’t really big place to go in the Demon realm, it’s more of a pit stop before moving on to Washington and Cleveland.”

“I’ll remember that.” Riley chuckled, waving before sliding into his car and headed off.

Xander hurried back to Rio’s to check on the stew, adding a few more things to it, set his alarm on his cell and went to lay down on the couch for a quick nap.

  


  


  


END

  


  


  


  


  


  


**Author's Note:**

> This is all I have. To be hinest I haven't touched this story in a long time so I am mostly considering this complete.


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